Maya and Lucas, Lucas and Maya
by vintageambition
Summary: A bunch of Lucaya one-shots, all in one place. Welcome to Lucaya heaven! Taking requests; updated weekly.
1. Under Our Tree

**A/N: This is the first one-shot in a series of one-shots! Every story will be different but will obviously be Lucaya. I'm hoping to get a new one-shot up every week! This first one is Christmas themed to suit today being Christmas. This isn't the best story I've ever written but I just really wanted to do a Christmas story and this is what happened lol But I hope you guys still like it!**

 **Also I always feel it's important to know how old the characters are in the story so at the beginning of every one-shot I'll have a 'timeline.' I can't always find a way to casually get that info into the story itself so that will be there so you guys always know what era of their lives the core 5 are in!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: early 20s._

 _Summary: It's a Lucaya Christmas! But will something get in the way of it being perfect?_

Under Our Tree

"It's a little crooked," Maya commented.

"What about now?" Lucas asked as his fingers pushed the star a little to the left. A huge smile grew on Maya's face.

"It's perfect!"

The two always helped each other decorate each other's Christmas trees. It was a tradition that went back to when they were in high school. Even though the two blondes had only started dating their junior year of college, they formed a close bond back in high school.

The couple stood back to look at their handy work. As an artist, Maya was very particular about the color palette of her tree and it changed every year. This year was blue, silver, and white. Lucas always go a chuckle out when Maya would go on and on about how she wanting each tree to be special. It was a different experience decorating the tree at Lucas's apartment. He insisted the tree be just how it was when he was a kid, overflowing with tinsel and little handmade ornaments placed anywhere. Each tree was so different, but so perfect in its own way.

"You know I think this might be the best tree we've ever done," Maya reveled. "And the star is perfect. Thank you," she said, placing a small kiss on her boyfriend's cheek. His strong arm wrapped around her shoulders, a delicate smile on his lips.

"Just doing my job," he laughed. It had become Lucas's official job to put the star on the tree every single year. The very first year he went over to her place to help with her tree, he noticed there was no star on top. Maya revealed she and her mom hadn't put a star on their tree since Maya was 9. Both were too short to reach on their own and when Maya tried to use a ladder to put the star on top, the ladder wobbled and she fell off and was forced to spend Christmas Eve in the ER with a huge head bump. And now she was too freaked to use the ladder to put the star on, so they just never had a star. Lucas didn't want to laugh when she told him the story but he did. Never in his life had he heard of a Christmas tree with no star on top. So he corrected the problem by taking Maya to buy a brand new star and he himself stuck it on the top of the decorated tree. It became his duty every year after that.

Maya was pulled from her thoughts by the 'ping' sound of her phone. Reluctantly she pulled away from the warmth of her boyfriend's arms to grab her phone from its spot on the coffee table. Lucas moved over to the empty bins that housed Maya tree décor and attempted to clean up some.

From: Pumpkin

 _Do you and Lucas want to come to dinner with me and Farkle tonight?!_

"Huckleberry?" Maya spoke to get Lucas's attention. He looked up, wide-eyed. "Dinner with Riley and Farkle tonight?"

"Yeah! Any special occasion?" he asked, moving the bins to one side of the living room and lining them against the wall.

"I don't know. Riley just asked," she answered, moving her fingers fast over the screen to reply to her best friend.

To: Pumpkin

 _Absolutely Honey! Anything special?_

From: Pumpkin

 _We have a little news that's all;)_

It was the little winking emoji at the end of the last text that made Maya curious. Riley and Farkle had been dating for less time than herself and Lucas. But they seemed to be in the same place emotionally as Maya and Lucas, which makes sense considering they had known each other almost all their lives.

"Dinner just got interesting," Maya commented. Lucas stared at her confused. She moved close to him to show him the screen with the texts from Riley. Immediately after reading them quickly, Lucas shared her curiosity.

"Maybe she's pregnant," Lucas laughed. It earned him a playful smack on the arm from Maya, a little chuckle escaping her lips too.

"Lucas that's not even funny!"

Like Maya and Lucas, Riley and Farkle didn't live together yet. Again, like the blonde couple, they spent a ridiculous amount of time together. So much that they probably might as well live together. They even had keys to each other's apartment, but all four of them had keys to each other's apartments. Even Zay had a key to all their apartments. They played pretty fast and loose with the keys. But technically, they weren't living together yet. Maya had trouble even imagining her best friend being pregnant right now.

Hours passed before Maya and Lucas arrived at the small Italian restaurant Riley had asked them to meet at. The two blondes threw ideas back and forth, pondering at what the news Riley had could be. _'Maybe it's about work?' 'What if Riley's moving away?' 'What if Farkle's moving away?' 'I still think she's pregnant.'_ Back and forth the two went until they walked through the doors of the little bistro and stopped their friends sitting in a booth by a big window. They walked up quickly, eager to get answers to their questions.

"So, what's the big news?" Maya asked after the 4 of them ordered a couple large pizzas to share. She watched in anxiety as Riley and Farkle shared a knowing look. The blonde could only take a guess and say the news was good. But then she was crowded with the thought that maybe something that was good news to Riley and Farkle wasn't going to be good news to her. Something about the smirk the two of her friends shared told her that this wasn't the kind of news that had even a chance of disappointing her.

Lucas must have been in as much suspense as Maya because he suddenly burst out in excitement. "God just say it!" he shouted.

"We've moving in together!" Riley beamed. Maya and Lucas could only stare in shock. It would seem a bit fast for anyone who didn't know the couple, since they had only been dating for about a year. Maya and Lucas knew them better than that, but it was still a little bit of a shock.

"We found a great place in a neighborhood just down the street from Riley's childhood apartment. We're going to make it ours," Farkle went on, staring in awe at Riley.

Maya was happy for the two of them. She knew she was. But she couldn't explain the odd, but daunting feeling she had in her stomach. Trying to ignore it, she got up from her seat and hugged her best friend. Riley looked so happy that Maya didn't want to dare ruin it by focusing on that feeling she had. She made her faint smile as bright as she could. Lucas went on to ask question after question about the apartment they had picked out. The cheerful brunette had no problems answering each question with enthusiasm.

Dinner went by with not much of a topic change. The new apartment was the big subject that everyone seemed focused on. Everyone except Maya. Don't get her wrong, she tried hard to focus on the good news and get wrapped up in it like everyone else. After a while though it became harder. Her eyes kept making their way up to the handsome blonde boy sitting next to her. Somewhere along the line of feeling his thumb glide up and down the skin of her hand and their fingers interlaced, she caught on. The feeling deep inside of her was none other than the green eyed monster of jealousy. She didn't want to be jealous but it was hard when she and Lucas had been together more than twice as long as Riley and Farkle. Lucas had never even mentioned moving in together. They were at each other's places all the time but never did the words come out of Lucas's mouth that he wanted to move in together. Maya had thought about it before but she figured they were young and had time, but 3 had gone by and the two of them seemed to be in the same place in their relationship.

"Are you ok babe?" Lucas asked her later that night as they walked through the hallway to Maya's apartment door. She had been a bit distant since the news at dinner. Less and less words were coming out of her mouth as the meal went on and by the time she and Lucas were on the subway coming home, she was completely silent.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just tired, I guess," she answered, keeping her eyes from meeting his. She didn't want to tell him. Maybe once she thought it over she would drop the jealousy thing. Maybe she just needed to let it sink in that Riley and Farkle were moving in together. Lucas slowly moved his hand up to her chin and moved it up so her eyes were forced to meet his.

"Come on Maya. Talk to me. What's going on?" he insisted. Those green eyes looked as sweet and safe as ever. Maya had underestimated how well he knew her and the difference between her 'I'm tired' act and her 'something's wrong' act.

"Do you think it's weird that Riley and Farkle are moving together after only dating for a year, when we've been dating for 3 years now and we've never even talked about moving in together?" she asked carefully. She had never voiced a need to move in with Lucas. She didn't know how he would react. Those green eyes, so face and warm, deviated away from Maya, finding a new place on the ground to stare at.

"Well we do have keys to each other's places," he mentioned. Maya couldn't help but laugh.

"Everyone has a key to my place! Everyone has a key to your place! That doesn't really mean much Lucas," Maya said. She didn't know when this started turning into a fight, but her voice felt raised.

A frustrated hand ran through Lucas's hair. This had gone from being never really discussed to suddenly being a huge problem in Maya's head and Lucas couldn't understand why. He had his reasons, but he didn't feel like he could tell Maya. In a way he was embarrassed and in another way, it was a huge reveal to something he just wasn't ready to tell her. He didn't think it was something she would be ready to hear either. Trapped in between a rock and hard place, he tried to talk her down.

"Look I just don't think it's something we need to talk about right now," he said. His arms moved up to grasp her small hands. Before she could get a word in, he spoke again. "I gotta go ok? I have work early in the morning," he said quickly. "I love you."

His lips gave a quick peck to Maya's lips and she watched him walk down the hall and disappear into the elevator.

"I love you, too," she whispered to no one.

That was barely a conversation. He passed off her questions and concerns so quickly like he didn't care at all. She stood in the hallway, her back against the wall. Eyes wandering the room, she tried to piece together what had just happened between her and her boyfriend. Never had he just waved her off like that. It was almost like he had already decided firmly that he did not want to move in with Maya.

It would be so much easier for Maya if she could get this off her brain. If Riley had never invited them to dinner, if she and Farkle hadn't decided to move in together, than Maya wouldn't have this thought plaguing her brain. It was like no other thoughts could seep through the thick thoughts that surrounded this one subject. It was taking over her brain. For two whole days, she dodged all Lucas's calls. Then when she finally decided to call he back, she started to feel like he was dodging her calls.

Secretly, they were both scared. They were both frustrated. They both wanted the same thing, but they couldn't communicate it. This was unfamiliar territory for them; they always knew how to talk to each other and communicate. They could be vulnerable and open up. But now they each had this dark pit in them that wouldn't let them form words to the other person. It was unbearable.

Until Maya had decided she couldn't just sit on her couch and avoid it anymore. Her brain heaved with this one thought. She had to face him. The keys fumbled around in her hand as she tried to find the one that unlocked Lucas's apartment. Finally she found the correct one and stuck it in the door. As soon as the door swung open, she saw Lucas standing in the kitchen, mixing cookie batter. Every year he made her a huge batch of Christmas cookies using his mom's recipe. Part of Maya wanted to drop the entire moving in conversation and sit and eat those cookie with her boyfriend, who had never been anything but good her. But this was important, suddenly this was the most important thing in their relationship. Lucas glanced up from his cookies with wide-eyes as Maya closed the door behind her.

"Can I ask you something?" she said before Lucas even had a chance to say anything. The couple had barely spoken in 2 days and Lucas had a lot to say, stepping out of the kitchen to stand in front of Maya. But Maya had a lot to say too and the harsh, sharp tone of her voice made it known she was going to be the one to talk first. Not even waiting for a response to her question from Lucas, she went on. "Why don't you want to move in with me?"

Hesitation. Lucas looked almost terrified to answer that question. It was like he wasn't expecting it. At least not so bluntly. He had an answer, but he didn't want to give it. So he racked his brain for a new answer.

"I just don't think it's the right time for us Maya," he let out low and quiet. He tried avoiding her eyes, settling for glancing around the room or straight down at the floor. In the corner of his sight he noticed the small girl start pacing the floor. Finally he looked up and caught sight of her blue eyes lit up with the same intense fire they always were. The normal determined, inspired fire had changed to a bit of anger.

She fiddled her hands around trying to get her thoughts into coherent words. "I've been thinking a lot about this. And I've been trying like hell to think of a reason that a guy wouldn't want to move in with his girlfriend, a girlfriend that he's known for 10 years and has been dating for 3 years. I've been trying to think of a reason and the only one I can come up with is that that guy," she stated sadly, her eyes turning sad directly at her boyfriend, "just doesn't see that girlfriend being the girl that he's going to end up with in the end."

It almost broke Lucas's heart completely in half to hear that come out of her mouth. As much as he tried, he just couldn't bring it in himself to tell her the truth. But he moved closer to her, bringing his hands up to her arms.

"Maya that's not what this is about! Ok I promise that's not what this is," he tried to convince her.

"Then tell me what it is about Lucas!" Maya pulled away from Lucas's touch. If she stayed in his embrace for too long she would crumble. The warmth that radiated from him was always her weakness.

"I just think we should wait!"

"How much waiting do we need to do? Lucas you're not even giving me a real reason! Which only makes me believe it's true that you don't see this relationship going all the way. It just makes me believe it's me," she choked out, fighting back a couple tears that she really didn't want to fall.

An inner battle took place inside of Lucas that felt like a terrifying fire. "Maya please don't think that." Those were all the words he was able to get out.

"Either give me a real reason or consider yourself single. Because I'm not waiting around Lucas, not if you don't even see us ending up together," Maya grumbled. Lucas was only able to stare blank-faced at the blonde girl he loved walk back out the door. The loud slamming as it shut behind her echoed in his ears. What did he just do? He let the best thing in his life walk out and he couldn't even speak the words that would stop her. He had to fix this. With tomorrow being Christmas Eve, he was determined to do it fast.

…..

It took Lucas all day Christmas Eve to find what he needed. It would have been quicker had he been able to find places that were even open. But now it was almost midnight and he was shaking nervously in the elevator going up to Maya's apartment. He wasn't even scared to ask her. He was more scared that she wouldn't want to listen to him, that he had screwed up too much the day before when she came over. The elevator doors opened on Maya's floor. He walked slowly up to the door with the handmade wreath on it that Maya had worked on for days. He knew she was still up. He could hear the sounds of _Santa Clause Is Coming to Town_ on the other side of the door.

He had one object in his hand and another in his jacket pocket. They were both important. The object in his hand was a small, scruffy dog with the intent to express apologies to Maya from Lucas. Maya always talked about getting a dog, but she just never went to go pick one out from the shelter. His hope was that the innocent face of the puppy would butter Maya up to hearing Lucas out when he started talking. He set the little dog down on the mat in front of the door and knocked. When he heard footsteps coming on the other side, he hid behind the corner, waiting for the sound of the front door opening. An ecstatic gasp was heard that he knew came from Maya's mouth.

"I'm sorry," he said, revealing himself in the hallway in front of Maya. The girl was holding the dog tight in her arms, petting his little head as he laid it on her chest.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to give you your Christmas present," Lucas said.

"The dog?" Maya asked, setting the dog down inside her apartment. The scruffy little guy ran straight in, like he knew this was his new home, and settled himself into the blankets laid out on the couch. Maya giggled at the sight before turning her attention back to her boyfriend.

"No," Lucas answered, now standing right in front of her. "No the dog is your 'I'm sorry' present. This," he said, pulling the little box out of his pocket and handing it to Maya, "is your Christmas present."

Maya looked unsure as she took the box from his hands. She wasn't sure about what to expect at all when she pulled the wrapping paper off of it. "What is this?" she asked, pulling a tiny silver key out of the box.

"A key," Lucas answered bluntly. He still couldn't read the look on Maya's face. If he had to take a guess, he would say she was just confused.

"I already have a key to your apartment," she frowned.

"I know," Lucas started. "This is a symbol. You have a key to my apartment. But this is a key to our apartment. If you want it to be?"

Maya finally showed a glimpse of a smile pressed against her lips. "You're not just doing this because I made a big deal out of it right?" Maya only wanted this if Lucas wanted it to. A bit of regret rushed through her the day before after she left he boyfriend's house. She didn't mean to make him feel like he was forced into moving in with her. It was just something she wanted to talk about, have a conversation. It just made her angry when Lucas brushed her off like this topic and her feelings didn't warrant a conversation.

"No. This is because I love you. Look I didn't mean to make you feel like I didn't think we're going to make it all the way. It's the opposite actually," he said, pushing a loose strand of blonde hair out of Maya's face. "I was just freaked out."

"About what?" Maya asked. It didn't make sense to her for Lucas to be freaked out by her. But in her defense, she didn't understand the intense fire she always set inside his stomach when he looked at her.

"Moving in together is that last step that we take before…you know… marriage. And I know that you're going to be the girl that I marry. It just freaks me out a little bit. But I do want to live with you. I practically already do," he laughed. They both knew that they spent more time at each other's places as much as they spent at their own. Often times Maya would buy groceries for Lucas and Lucas almost always was the one to do any kind of handy-work at Maya's place, even if it was just changing a light bulb, Lucas did it.

"Are you sure you really want to?" Maya smiled. Everything in her wanted this exact moment to happen. She gazed down at the key in her hand. The key to their apartment. _Their_ apartment. All she could do was repeat that to herself in her head. _Their_ apartment.

"I promise you this is what I want. You, me, and that yet-to-be-named dog in there under one roof," he chuckled, pulling the smaller blonde in close. Maya returned the laugh before nodded her head wildly.

"You, me, and Sundance!"

"Sundance? Really?" Lucas laughed.

"It seems right." Maya pressed a quick peck to Lucas's cheek. But the cowboy didn't think it was enough and pulled the blonde in to kiss her lips. They collided with such an excited force that neither of them could hold back smiles that trailed into smaller kisses.

Maya felt all of her weight lift up as Lucas's strong arms picked her up. Her legs wrapped around his fit torso and continued their kiss. A sigh released from her as felt his mouth pull away from hers.

"Do you want to start packing?" Lucas smirked.

Maya just laughed at the request. They had only agreed to move in together all of 2 minutes ago and he already wanted to pack.

"I think we should celebrate first," she smirked. A knowing grin appeared on Lucas's face. He knew exactly what his girl had in mind. Happily he carried a giggling Maya inside quickly. He planned on beginning to pack up all her stuff in the morning, excited to start this time in their lives together. So tonight, they figured they should get one more use out of her bed.

"Merry Christmas babe," Lucas said once they were inside. He caught a glimpse of the clock as it read 12:01AM. One kiss later, Maya reciprocated.

"Merry Christmas Huckleberry. Best Christmas ever."

 **A/N: Merry Christmas to anyone who celebrates it! And I hope you enjoyed the story (like I said it wasn't my best writing) but see you next week with a brand new one-shot! Be sure to subscribe and review!**

 **Also if anyone has any Lucaya one-shot prompts please either put them in the reviews or message me! I'd be happy to write them!**


	2. Figure Us Out: Part 1

**A/N: So I've decided to post these weekly one-shots on Sunday/Monday! So be on the lookout weekly for those!**

 **This one is part of a series! I'll be posting each part separately, probably not one after another but they'll all be posted. Hope you guys enjoy!**

 _Timeline: Their sophomore year of high school._

 _Summary: No one knows that they're dating. But they'll find out…. one by one._

Figure Us Out: Part 1

3 weeks.

That's how long Lucas and Maya had been together officially. 3 weeks of little pecks on the lips in between classes. 3 weeks of holding hands the whole way home after getting late night ice-cream. 3 weeks of talking all night on the phone until they both fell asleep with the device still pressed to their ears. 3 weeks of happiness for the two blondes. But it was all secret.

Everyone rooted for them. After all, they did win best couple every year since 7th grade, even when Riley and Lucas were an actual couple the year before. But in a way, they felt like that made it harder. It was added pressure. It was pressure that neither wanted on their new relationship. They didn't want the pressure that everyone else would put on them to be this amazing power couple to get in the way of how they genuinely felt about each other. So they decided that they would just keep it between them for a month or so to see how the relationship progressed naturally. Maya had ulterior motives of course.

Riley.

Her brunette best friend was together with Lucas the year before, when they were freshmen, but they broke up towards the end of that year. Even though the breakup was mutual and Riley repeatedly insisted that her and Lucas were much better off as friends, Maya couldn't stand the thought of Riley being mad at her for now being with Lucas. _"I just want to wait to tell her,"_ she told Lucas one night just about a week into their new official stance as boyfriend and girlfriend. Lucas didn't entirely understand it, since he and Riley hadn't been together for a while. She was even talking to some new guy named Brian from her geometry class. But Lucas was supportive nonetheless. In fact he kind of liked that no one knew about them yet. He had her all to himself. No but him knew why her smile lingered on him a little longer day after day or knew the reason behind the little gleam in her eyes when they met his green eyes. It was a little extra exhilarating, for both of them.

It was a Tuesday. Maya had gone over to Lucas's place after school like she had done every Tuesday for the past few weeks to have dinner with Lucas and his mom, who was a huge fan of Maya. Instead of doing homework like they said they would do, the two blondes were on Lucas's bed. Maya sat criss-cross in between her boyfriend's legs, her arms linked behind his neck. She could feel the warmth of his hands as they cupped her cheeks keeping her face close to his to connect their lips. Little smiles appeared on her face in between kisses that caused a chain reaction. Once a smile came to her mouth, Lucas couldn't help but smile back and lay a kiss to her soft cheek. Hands tangled through her hair, pushing it back behind her ears and breathe tickled Lucas's neck when Maya giggled against it. It was like their own little piece of paradise. They didn't even hear the bedroom door fly open but they heard a voice that they didn't want to hear.

"Hey Lucas I need your- oh shit!" Zay's voice echoed thru the room. The two teens on the bed threw their heads around to look at the boy who was standing in the doorway, his jaw remaining dropped at the sight in front of him.

No one knew what to say. Zay was in complete shock and both Maya and Lucas were trying to come up with an explanation. But of course, there wasn't much you could say that would make it seem casual that they were making out on the bed.

"What the hell is happening?" Zay finally asked, breaking the silence. Maya jumped off of Lucas's lap. Once her feet touched the carpeted floor, she made her way to the door and closed it quick, keeping the three of them in the room.

"Zay just listen-" Maya started to say.

"Zay it's not what it looks like," Lucas cut her off.

"Really?" Zay said with a small, but knowing smirk growing slowly on his face. "Because it looks like you two are together, like really together but haven't told anybody yet because you're afraid of how it would change the group and everybody else's feelings and opinions getting in the way. And of course there's Riley and we all know there is nothing in the world that would make Maya want to hurt Riley. So you're keeping this," he blinked gesturing between the two blondes, "a secret until you can figure out if it means enough to tell everybody else and deal with whatever outcome that will have."

Maya and Lucas stared blank faced at their friend. He was so much more perceptive than he seemed sometimes with how he was always the one to joke around. But he had hit this nail straight on the head. For a split second, Maya considered that maybe Lucas had told him all of that. But the look on her boyfriend's face was just as stunned as hers.

"Ok maybe it's exactly what it looks like," Lucas mumbled. Suddenly a bigger smile grew on Zay's face as his eyes looked between the couple, who were now standing side by side.

"What are you smiling about?" Maya asked, nervous.

Zay all of a sudden burst at the seams with joy. His arms stretched to wrap around his friends, giving them a group hug. "It's about time! God I'm so excited for you two! I knew you had to feel this way about each other with all the looks and hugs and Lucas going on and on talking about you for hours!" Redness found its way to Lucas's cheeks. Maya giggled at the sudden reveal that he would constantly talk about her. Truth was, he would always talk about Maya, before Zay moved to New York and even when he dated Riley. There was always something about Maya that made it seem like she was always just more important to talk about; at least to Lucas.

Maya came to the realization that Zay had just discovered exactly what they were trying to hide. And Zay wasn't exactly the best at keeping secrets.

"Zay we need you to keep this to yourself! At least for a little while," she begged. Lucas could tell she was getting worked up, probably thinking about Riley finding out. She felt his hand land comfortingly on his back and she managed to take a deep breathe before the sound of Zay's response filled the air.

"You know Riley wouldn't be upset Maya. She loves you. Plus she and Lucas broke up a while ago. She's over him," Zay persuaded. Those were all the same points that Lucas made to his girlfriend when they discussed keeping their relationship just between them. Lucas knew there were other things that made her, and him too, not want to tell others about the two of them just yet. But he believed that Maya would be happier if she could just tell Riley.

"This isn't just about Riley, Zay," Maya pointed out.

"We just don't want the pressure, Zay. Do you remember when Riley and I tried to make it work in junior high? And the whole class was putting pressure on us to be this perfect couple. Well I think that was one of the things that broke us in the beginning. It was everyone putting their two cents in and their opinions on what our relationship should be or how we should be around each other," Lucas explained with a serious look. His arm lifted and laid around Maya's shoulders, pulling her in a little bit to him. "I don't want that to happen with this relationship. This is too important to me."

Zay didn't speak. It's not that he was considering telling people about these two against their wishes, but he was just taking it in. He was taking in their feelings and emotions towards each other. They felt strongly about each other, he could see it as clear as day. Not even just now standing in Lucas's room, but always.

"Alright," he finally said with a long breathed sigh. "I'll keep this a secret." Maya and Lucas nodded thankfully. They soon saw Zay's smile grow back in place. "But I'm so happy for you guys!"

Maya's little laugh at her friend's excitement rang thru Lucas's ear as he watched them hug.

"How long has this been going on by the way?" Zay asked.

"Almost a month," Maya smiled. Her mind raced thinking about how happy she had been this past month. Her cheeks felt like they were constantly hurting from all the smiling, as cliché as it sounded. "A really good almost month," she added, taking Lucas's hand in hers.

Zay leaned against the door and watched on happily, maybe a little too happily, as Lucas pressed a kiss to the smaller blonde's head. A quiet 'aw' slipped out of his mouth that caused the couple to come out of their moment. Their eyes looked up at him with curiosity.

"Did you come over for something?" Lucas asked. Zay had completely forgotten that he actually came to his best friend's house with a purpose.

"Oh! Yeah I just wanted to ask you to help me with something for baseball. But I can totally ask another guy from the team. It's fine," he smirked. He kept smirking, he kept staring. What he didn't do was move.

Maya glanced up at Lucas and met his equally confused eyes. "So," Lucas started, dragging out the word, "I'm, we're, really grateful that you're going to keep this to yourself, but… could you… like… leave?"

"Excuse me?" Zay scoffed.

"We would kind of like to continue what we were doing when you came in," Lucas laughed. A sudden knowing smile came to Zay's face. He threw his hands in the air in surrender and backed up towards the door.

"Alright! Say no more!" he laughed, lifting his eyebrows repeatedly. "Have fun you two!"

The door had already closed behind him when he heard Maya's giggling behind the door. He walked into the living on his way out and waved a goodbye to Mrs. Friar, who was standing over the stove stirring a bowl of chili. Zay could already tell that Maya was staying for dinner, and then thought about how many nights she had probably already stayed for dinner. Maya wasn't one to resist a good plate of food and Lucas's mom made some of the best.

"What a married couple," he mumbled under his breath as he closed the apartment door behind him.

Lucas and Maya sat back on the bed, Lucas's hands already tangled back into Maya's blonde hair. "Do you think he'll tell?" she asked her boyfriend.

"No. Honestly I think he's just too stoked on us being together," Lucas laughed. "Not that I blame him. I'm pretty stoked, too."

A kiss pressed to Maya's lips and she sunk into it. Sure, Zay wasn't great at keeping secrets, but maybe he would try extra hard to keep this secret. Maybe sensing how important this was to the two of them would help Zay keep this one thing to himself. It wouldn't be much longer, Maya thought, until she and Lucas decide to tell everyone themselves anyway. After a month, it was only a matter of time.

 **A/N: So another member of the group will find out in each part. I believe there are about 7 parts and I have them all mapped out… except for one.**

 **Remember to review and follow to get updates for the weekly one-shot! Also I'm currently looking for prompt suggestions! Love you guys! Thanks so much for reading:)**


	3. Surprise!

**A/N: So I have a list of story prompts I found on Tumblr and it has some really good prompts from different quotes and short phrases! There is like 300 on the list so I've been working off it to get some story ideas.**

 **This is prompt 256: "This is the dumbest thing you've ever done."**

 **So if anyone wants to throw out a random number between 1-320 then I can use that prompt to work on a one-shot for this story! Enjoy this one!**

 _Timeline: Mid-20s._

 _Summary: Maya has a small surprise for Lucas when he gets home._

Surprise!

Lucas walked up the stairs of his and Maya's apartment building. The elevator was still under repair and he was really starting to regret letting Maya talk him into getting an apartment on the 10th floor. A deep sigh released from his mouth. It had been a long day at work and he was looking forward to lying in bed with his girlfriend. She had worked a late night at the gallery the night before and she had the day off today. Just a couple errands she had to run and then that would be it. Finally making it to the 10th floor, he walked a few feet to their front door. He stuck his key inside, twisted it, and pushed the door open like he did every day. But when he walked inside he saw a sight he didn't see every day.

"Maya… what's going on?" Lucas asked, frozen in the doorway.

He looked on at his girlfriend as she sat on the floor, surrounded by 5 small, energetic puppies. Maya's blue eyes looked at him with surprise. Since the time she got home with the energetic bunch, she had been racking her brain for an explanation. Lucas quickly closed the door when he noticed two of the dogs run up to him.

"Maya? Why are all these dogs here?" he repeated, picking up one of the dogs. He wanted to resist, but they were just so darn cute.

Maya's nervous eyes kept on the puppies as they begged for tummy rubs and attention. "Aren't they cute?" she said, avoiding the question at hand.

"They're adorable. But again, why are they here?"

"Huckleberry," Maya started. Lucas was always a little bit more forgiving if she used the old nickname. It was a way of buttering him up that only worked when Maya used it. She could see it already working its magic when her boyfriend's eyes softened a little bit. "I went to the gallery today to drop off something and it was a nice day so I decided to walk back home." Maya tried her best to beat around the bush and Lucas knew it. The little shy look on her face was enough to make Lucas smile. But Maya was too busy avoiding eye contact with him to notice it. "And you know if you take 8th street home there's that animal shelter?" Lucas knew the one. Back their senior year of high school, Lucas did some volunteer work there. Maya would visit sometimes when he worked there and bring food for him and the other workers. Lucas thought it was an excuse just to come and play with the dogs in the back. Maya always wanted a dog, but the apartment building she grew up in didn't allow them. "Well I just went in for a minute to see if Lucy was there. She was. And I thought it was good idea to let her show me the new animals. And the second I saw these guys I was hooked!" She was so elated. There was one dog she had particularly bonded with: the smallest in the group. Maya picked that tiny dog up and held it against her chest. Her eyes moved up and caught Lucas's. The smile he had on his face seemed like a good sign to her, but then again, he usually smiled when he looked at her, so maybe it didn't mean much.

"Maya there's 5 of them!" he laughed. He wanted to be mad, he really did. As a vet, he knew how hard it was to take care of even one animal, let alone 5. It was a little mind-boggling to him that Maya didn't think it would smarter to start with maybe just 1 dog.

"Well Lucas they're siblings! I couldn't split them up," Maya said. Making it even harder for Lucas to say no to keeping them all, Maya stuck out her bottom lip and looked him right in the eye. A certified yes would come of it, it always did. "Please can we keep them?"

Lucas ran a hand through his hair. Frustrated, he looked at all the puppies as they ran through the house and searched for toys to play with. "Maya they're a lot of work to take care of," he breathed out, voicing his concerns. His girlfriend was still holding the tiny little dog close to her. The puppy began resting it's head against her. At that moment, Lucas knew he couldn't tear that dog away from her. His Shortstack had already bonded with that Shortstack.

Maya, pressing the puppy to her face, mouthed out words for it to say. "Please let me and my brothers and sisters stay Lucas. Please please please," she begged. Laughter could be heard coming from Lucas. God she made it hard to say no.

"Five though babe?"

"Please!?" Maya begged. She knew when she picked them out at the shelter that she would have a hard time convincing Lucas. But she had an even harder time trying to just pick one to take home, knowing the rest of them would have to stay at the shelter and probably be split up eventually. "How can you say no to this face?"

"To your face or the puppy's face? Because both are pretty hard to say no to," Lucas admitted.

"I promise I'll take care of them! And I already bought food and toys! Please Huckleberry?" she begged, whipping out the nickname again. "You love animals! You used to have a bunch."

Lucas laughed at the words. "Yeah when I lived on a farm. Maya we live in an apartment," he said. The dogs were terriers and they wouldn't get much bigger than they are now. But it was still a small New York City apartment that didn't have much room.

It was becoming increasingly harder for Lucas to say no as Maya's sad pout grew increasingly sad. "If you say we can't keep all of them, then you have to be the one to take them back to the shelter because I'll cry if I have to do it," Maya promised. She put the dog in her hands down and scooted closer to her boyfriend. Her arms linked behind his neck and her lips found their way to his cheek. Kiss after little kiss, she planted pecks on his cheek and neck. "Please? Please? Please? Please?" Maya asked after each kiss.

"Maya! There's one huge problem," Lucas mentioned. Maya's little smile disappeared, thinking she was losing this battle. Mentally, she prepared herself to have to say goodbye to all but one of the puppies she had already bonded with.

"What?" her quiet voice asked. Lucas's facial expression was hard to read, but soon his blank expression turned to a smile.

"We're going to have to name all of them," he whispered.

A large, toothy grin grew from ear to ear on the tinier blonde's face. "You mean we can keep them?"

"I already have your little puppy dog face here that I can't say no to, so why not just add 5 more?"

Maya threw her arms around the cowboy so fast and with so much force that he was knocked on his back on the ground. 5 excited puppies ran up to them and piled on top. The blonde rested on top of her boyfriend. His fingers pushed her messy hair out of her face and behind her ears, making the way clear as she pressed her lips to his mouth. They both felt the fluffy fur all around them as the dogs playfully attacked their form. Maya let her chin rest on Lucas's chest once the kiss was over.

"This is the dumbest thing you've ever done," Lucas laughed.

"You love me," Maya teased.

Lucas looked around at all the dogs surrounding him. Maya drove him absolutely crazy sometimes. There were so many things she did that annoyed the crap out of him! But her huge heart, the heart that he didn't think he deserved sometimes, that made her do so many things that just made him love her more. That huge heart of hers made her want to adopt 5 dogs so the siblings couldn't be split up. There was nothing he wanted to do more than add to his little family with Maya.

"Yeah I do love you," he spoke, pressing another kiss to his girlfriend's lips.

 **A/N: This story is really cute and light-hearted because next week's one-shot is angsty and emotionally heavy… so this is just buttering you up lol Love you guys! Review!**

 **See you next week!**


	4. At Five Months

**A/N: TRIGGER ALERTT. SADDNESS ALERT. JUST ALERT.**

 **My angst is back…. Can't help it lol But nevertheless I hope you guys enjoy it!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Mid-20s._

 _Summary: After a depressing tragedy, Lucas and Maya have to find strength in each other._

At Five Months

At five months pregnant, Lucas and Maya knew they were having a little boy. The nursery at the end of the hall had a big mural on one of the walls, done by Maya of course. She worked for hours drawing out the little jungle scene. Dawned in her oversized overalls, she worked all day to paint the scene on the wall. Lucas, of course, was nervous as hell about her working all day in the room, breathing in the paint fumes. But Riley had found some type of all-natural, toxin free paint for Maya to use. Lucas built the crib from scratch with Zay that sat on the side of the room. Maya was in love with it. Her over-active pregnancy hormones made her cry the second she saw the finished crib.

At five months pregnant, they already had a name picked out for the baby. Joseph Hunter Friar. Joseph was Pappy Joe's first name. It was Maya's idea to name the baby after him. Lucas couldn't believe she would offer to do something like that. Once she suggested that, Lucas insisted that they name the middle name after Shawn. Their baby would be named after two of the best men they knew, two of the most important people in their lives. It was a strong name to live up to, but they were sure their baby boy could do it. Lucas could swear that Pappy Joe was fighting back tears when they told him over video chat. Not that the tough man would ever admit it, though. Shawn was a different story. He cried like a baby! He didn't care who saw.

At five months, the parents-to-be had already named Riley as the god-mother to little Joseph. Of course, the brunette was taking the job very seriously, even though the baby wasn't born yet. She bought little outfits and toys for him all the time. She went to doctor's appointments with Maya and Lucas; she would cater to Maya's cravings when Lucas was at work and couldn't do it himself.

At five months pregnant, Maya and Lucas couldn't be more excited to be parents. Maya would constantly tell Lucas how lucky their baby would be to have him as their dad. And Lucas could barely even look at Maya without thinking what a great mom she would be. They were living in a dream, waiting for the next four months to go by so they could meet their son.

But at five months pregnant, they found out they wouldn't be having a baby anymore. _'You did everything right, Maya. It's just something that happens sometimes.'_ The doctor said it to Maya but it went in one ear and out the other. They went in for a routine ultrasound. But the doctor couldn't find a heartbeat. After a series of tests, she confirmed that the baby had passed in the womb. Maya couldn't help but burst into tears right there in the doctor's office. Lucas didn't cry. God he wanted to. But Maya needed to be the one to break down right now. If Lucas broke down too, Maya would hold back, thinking one of them had to be strong. So Lucas let her break and sink into his arms. He was almost in shock, like he didn't hear the doctor right away. To Maya, everything in the room went fuzzy, like she was under water. All the voices faded off and she couldn't see straight.

As soon as the couple got home, Lucas closed the door to the nursery. Maya didn't want to see it. She didn't want to look at the room made special for a little boy who would never get to see it. Maya buried herself underneath the pile of blankets on her and Lucas's bed. No words came out of her mouth. Only when Lucas asked her if she wanted anything did she let out a small _'no.'_

Two days later and she still hadn't said much. Riley had come over the day before with flowers, but Maya didn't want to see anybody. That worried Lucas more than the not talking; she didn't even want to see Riley. She had gotten out of bed and was sitting on the little bench on the balcony of their apartment. Lucas didn't know what to say. There wasn't much he could say, he knew that. But he just didn't want her to be alone. So he walked out carefully, her eyes not meeting his once, and took a seat next to her on the bench.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked in a quiet voice. He expected her to shake her head or even yell at him just to get her anger out. But she stayed still, as if he hadn't said anything to her.

"Am I being selfish?" she asked back, not looking at her husband. That wasn't a response that Lucas was expecting.

"Why would you ask me that?"

"Because you lost a baby too Lucas. And I've done nothing to try to make you feel better or ask you how you feel or anything," Maya cried. Seeing the tears well up in her eyes was like a hammer, taking swings at his heart over and over again. "And I'm sorry."

Lucas's brows furrowed deep in confusion. "Maya you don't have to be sorry. I don't expect you to cater to me right now," he said, gliding his hand over his wife's arm.

"It's not just that," Maya started. The confusion in Lucas grew as he thought about what Maya could possibly be sorry for right now. He thought, if anything, he should be apologizing to her for not knowing how to help her right now. "I'm sorry I lost our baby."

And just like that, Lucas could feel his heart explode with pain. It was just like Maya to blame herself for this, but he hated that she did.

"Stop." Lucas grabbed hold of Maya's hand, lacing his fingers through hers. "You heard the doctor, you didn't do anything," Lucas said in a forceful tone. The blue eyes in front of him were a fire with sadness and he could that 'dungeon of sadness' he had worked so hard to burn down open up again.

"Well I did something Lucas! These things don't just happen!" Maya exploded. She didn't want to escape the comfort of Lucas's hand in hers though, so she held it tight. That was the only thing holding her together in the guilt she felt for losing something so important to both her and Lucas.

Lucas scooted closer to the tiny blonde, determined to express how wrong she was with where she was putting her blame. "Sometimes it does!" he swore. The doctor tried her best to explain what had most likely happened with the baby. Not like Maya could hear much over her sobbing, but Lucas tried to listen. He wanted to know what happened. His thumb stroked her cheek as he cupped it, soothing her more than he knew. "You didn't do anything. I don't want you blaming yourself. And I sure as hell don't want you thinking that I blame you. Because I don't."

"That was our baby," Maya said in a quiet voice with suddenly softened eyes. "He could've been a really cool little person. And it's not fair!" she cried.

"I know it's not fair. I know it's not," he whispered. Lucas suddenly felt his mind race thinking about how that baby would have been half him and half Maya. He hadn't thought about it since they got the bad news. Forcibly, he didn't let himself; it was too painful. But he couldn't help it now. Little Joseph probably would've been a rebel like his mom. Lucas thought about how he could've had bright blue eyes like Maya, too; even though Maya always said she hoped he would have seafoam green eyes like a certain cowboy she knew. "Come here," Lucas whispered, pulling Maya into his arms. Little rogue tears came out of Lucas's eyes, breaking the well he had built.

"I just really wanted to meet him," Maya spoke from tight inside Lucas's arms.

"Listen. One day we will have a baby. And that kid is going to be the luckiest kid to have you as a mom. And we'll always be Joseph's parents ok? Nobody is going to take that away from us," Lucas vowed. He felt Maya's head lift from his chest and shoot her blue eyes at him. The look between them was one of a silent 'I promise' from Lucas to his wife. When Maya was satisfied, she laid her head back down on the strong chest of the taller blonde.

"I love you Huckleberry," she whispered.

Lucas pressed a kiss to the top of her messy hair, resting his chin on her head. "I love you Shortstack," he whispered back. Not knowing how to truly comfort her in this time, he just rubbed his hand along her back. "When you're ready, we'll try again alright?"

"You're going to be a really good dad," Maya grinned, sniffling back her tears.

Time would help the pain ease. And the blonde couple would try again. They wanted to be parents. They wanted to have a little blonde person running around that was half them and half the person they loved. They would get there. But this would make them stronger; this would bring them closer together.

 **A/N: Next chapter will be really cute to make up for the angst in this! Lol**

 **Still taking prompts if anybody has any requests or suggestions! Just send to me and I'll be happy to try and write it:)**

 **See you next week guys!**


	5. Friar Family of Five

**A/N: I'm so sorry this is getting up a day late! Having 2 jobs is really kicking my ass you guys lol But I am getting this one-shot up finally. Enjoy!**

 **ps... if you've read my story "Unexpected" then you'll probably recognize one of the names of the kids I just think it's the perfect name for a Lucaya kid lol**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Late-20s._

 _Summary: Lucas and Maya take the kids to watch Uncle Zay perform. A night out for the Friar family._

Friar Family of Five

"You have the tickets right Huckleberry?" Maya shouted into the hallway. She was just finishing tying the little laces on the end of their 3 year old daughter Lilly's shoes. Lucas poked his head into the room, tickets in hand, waving them around.

"Yes ma'am. Right here," he grinned, tipping his imaginary hat to his wife. Lilly giggled like she always did when her daddy did that. Maya noticed her mouth grow into an amused smirk, a pleasant change from the grimace that action received back in middle school. "Are we all ready?"

Maya nodded her head, looking down at herself to make sure she had remembered to put on her own shoes. When you have to put three kids' shoes on, you find you sometimes blank out on putting on your own. But there they were, two little black heeled booties on her feet. Lucas shifted his gaze down to Lilly, whose blonde curls were bouncing around as she nodded wildly. Lucas laughed a bit before pulling his daughter up into his arms, her arms flying around his neck. Maya smiled. She could never get tired of seeing Lucas and the kids. It melted her heart every time without fail.

Getting the jackets on everybody proved a lot harder than it usually was tonight. Lilly, just as stubborn and independent as her mom, insisted on putting her jacket and scarf on all by herself. She kept tangling the scarf or skipping buttons on her jacket. Every time Lucas would reach down to try and help, she would beg to try and get it for herself. The oldest child, Caroline, just couldn't decide which jacket to wear. And when she finally decided on the blue one, she couldn't find a scarf that matched. Maya could swear that the five year old was spending maybe a little too much time with her Auntie Riley. Finally, after what seemed like 20 minutes of fiddling with jackets in the doorway of the large apartment, the family of five walked down the hall to the elevator.

The two smallest blonde girls went skipping out of the elevator when it arrived in the underground parking garage of their building. "Caroline hold your sister's hand please!" Maya shouted to her oldest.

Maya had been against getting a car at first when Lucas brought it up years ago. She insisted that no real New Yorker drives a car. It was easy when it was just Caroline. Even after Lilly came 2 years later, they got around the city just fine by taking the subway or walking. But it proved a lot harder with three kids. Making sure Maya or Lucas had them all in tow while on the busy subway or walking down the crowded streets with strollers and groceries got too hard. Lucas had won that battle and now they owned a practically white SUV. Maya said she would rather lose a limb than drive a mini-van, but Lucas didn't argue with that. She still preferred to take the subway, but at times like this, she would suck it up and climb into the car to drive around the city.

Lucas walked ahead of Maya through the parking garage, catching up to Lilly and Caroline to make sure they stayed out of trouble and to get them set up in the car. Maya hung back a ways, holding the baby in her arms. Noah, the one year old cradled in his mother's arms, was gazing around with wide green eyes, just like his dad's. Thankfully, he wasn't being too fussy. He had been sick the last few days and Maya wasn't too sure she wanted to bring him tonight, worried he might still be feeling a bit under the weather. But he had been back to his smiley self all day so she figured it would be ok. Plus it would mean a lot to Zay to have the little guy there. Her hands carefully reached up and let her fingers move faint across his forehead, pushing little tiny blonde strands of hair up and away.

By the time she made it to the car, Lucas had already gotten Lilly buckled into her car seat in the backseat.

"You're driving Huckleberry," Maya smiled up at her husband. He laughed. He figured she wouldn't want to drive. Any time she could sit in the passenger seat instead of the driver seat, she did. Maya began to get Noah buckled into his own car seat when she noticed Caroline looking up at her.

"Daddy can I watch the iPad?" she smiled from her booster seat, turning her attention to her dad. Lucas looked over his shoulder from his spot in the driver seat. Their oldest had the same grin Maya had. Lucas claimed that was reason he could never say no to her, much like he could almost never say no to Maya. Maya laughed. That little girl was the biggest daddy's girl ever. Even when she was in Maya's tummy, she would always respond with movement when Lucas's hand touched the belly.

"Only for a little bit," Lucas smiled back at his daughter. "Ask your mom for it. It's in her bag."

Maya was finished buckling Noah in and was already digging through her purse for the iPad. She handed it to Caroline and walked around to the passenger side door, climbing in.

"Everybody ready to go?" Lucas asked as Maya buckled her seatbelt. All three girls let out little a little 'yes' each. The baby settled for blowing little saliva bubbles with his mouth, which Lucas took as a 'yes' as well.

The car ride was as it usually is when the whole family ventures out. Caroline watched cartoons on the iPad, letting out little giggles or bursts of laughter at different points. Noah was quiet, mostly letting out occasional coos. His large eyes stared out the window at the tall passing buildings with such wonder and awe. Middle child Lilly engaged a conversation with her mom, mostly talking about different things she was seeing outside, asking questions. _'Where are all those people walking to mommy?' 'Can we try that restaurant mama?' 'Is that the tallest building in the world? I bet they can see that from space huh?'_ She was entering a very curious phase and was constantly asking question after question. It was mainly Maya who got asked the questions. She was pretty good at making up answers for questions she truly didn't know the answers to, but luckily, most of Lilly's questions weren't too complicated. Lucas's hand was sitting in the space between the two front seats, Maya's tiny hand in his. Their fingers laced together like they did every time they were in the car. It became a bit of a habit. Buckle the seatbelt, put the car in drive, hold each other's hand.

Traffic made it impossible to get to the theater in any less than 35 minutes. But luckily, neither Maya nor Lucas were inexperienced. They always left early so they could make sure between the kids and the traffic, they would be on time. It took a while for Maya to able to be someone who was 'on time' more often than not, but with the kids, it became a necessity. One of the worst things about having a car in the city is finding a park. There were no parking lots, so you had to find a street spot to park on. That usually meant walking a few blocks from your car to your destination. That was the case tonight. Three blocks down the street from the theater, the Friar family climbed out of the car. Maya made her way through each child, making sure their jackets were zipped and their scarfs were wrapped enough. Lucas then took his turn and zipped up Maya's jacket for her, followed by pressing a kiss to her temple. She was the best mother he had ever seen. She never ceased to amaze him.

The Friars made their way down the backstage hall, finally inside the theater, until they spotted a familiar face. "Uncle Zay!" Lilly shouted, escaping from Lucas's arms and running to Zay.

"Lilly pad!" Zay exclaimed, scooping his god-daughter up into his arms. "I'm so glad you're here!" He let the small blonde wrap her arms around his neck and hug him tight. He looked up to see the rest of the blonde clan walk up to him with smiles.

"Hi! Are you excited?" Maya asked, maneuvering around her daughter, and the drooling baby in her arms, to give her own hug to Zay. Recently, Zay had joined one of the top contemporary dance companies in New York City. Tonight was his first performance with them. His face was riddled with nervousness that Maya and Lucas could see from the second they spotted him down the hall.

"God I'm nervous," he confessed. "What if I mess up?" In an effort to comfort him, Lilly lowered her head into the crook of his neck.

"You won't mess up Uncle Zay!" the toddler assured him in her small voice. Zay pressed a little kiss to her head but looked back up to his long-time friends.

Lucas laid his hand on the shoulder of his best friend. "This is what you've trained for! You've worked so hard for this. You'll do great!" he promised.

It was true. Zay got into Julliard on a dance scholarship after high school and worked his butt off to train day and night during college. After he was able to land a spot on a small touring ballet company and spent 2 years with them. He even did a little dancing off-Broadway. Lucas went with him on the day of his callback audition for this dance company 6 months ago. He sat shaking the whole time they were waiting for his audition number to be called. Words couldn't describe how happy he was, how happy the entire group was, when Zay got the news that he landed a spot in the company.

"Thanks for coming guys. This really means a lot," Zay said. But Maya and Lucas just glanced at each other with knowing gazes. Zay didn't have to thank them. They wouldn't miss this for the world.

"Are Izzy and the twins here yet?" Lucas asked.

Three years ago, Zay and Smackle finally tied the knot. The two of them had been dating the longest in the group, except for Lucas and Maya, but they weren't far behind. But they were the last of the couples to get married. Smackle had been doing a lot of work with NASA and Zay was really focusing on his dance career. Both of them agreed that they wanted to wait to get married and have kids until they were more secure in their careers. Only a year and half after getting married, they had the twins, Juliet and Marie.

Zay's face could be seen instantly lighting up after the mention of his wife and kids. "Yeah they're in the audience. You're all sitting together so you'll see them," Zay explained. He turned his attention to Maya. "Have you seen Riley and Farkle? Do you know if they're here yet?"

Maya shook her head in response and looked at her phone to check both the time and for missed messages from Riley. "No but they'll probably get here soon. You-"

"Zay!" Riley's voice rang out, cutting through Maya's sentence.

"Good to know the Riley and Maya telepathy is still going strong," Zay joked, wrapping his arms around a very pregnant Riley as she thrillingly crashed into him for a hug. "Hey guys!"

Farkle moved in for his hug, letting Riley move over and hug her blonde best friend. Maya set her hands down on the brunette's pregnant belly and gave a gentle rub, giving a warm hello to the baby boy inside that was to be her god-son in just 1 short month. Riley and Farkle got married just a year after Maya and Lucas did and had been trying to get pregnant since the beginning of their marriage. Turns out having a baby wasn't going to be so easy for them. But after years of struggling with fertility, Riley found herself in a doctor's office, with Maya by her side, complaining of constant vomiting and a tiring feeling. She expected to be told something a lot worse than that she was basically having a miracle baby.

"How's going buddy? You nervous?" Farkle asked, scooping little Noah up into his arms. Now with free arms, Lucas took the liberty of throwing one of them around his little wife. She moved into his chest a bit, laying her head back on his chest. This closeness never became any less natural for them.

"Farkle! I'm such he's nervous. But he knows we are all here to support him and that he's going to be amazing out there," Riley encouraged her friend. She had Caroline's form pressed to her, combing her fingers through her god-daughter's long blonde hair.

Zay was about to respond to the positivity-filled brunette, but was cut off pre-words by his company owner's voice behind him. "Alright Zay we have to start prepping," he smiled. The whole gang had met him before. They all shot smiles at him as Zay nodded and turned to his cluster of friends, telling them they had to go find their seats. Lilly was handed back over to her mom and hugs were exchanged. They whole group had amazing seats. The whole front couple of rows was filled with the friends and family of the company dancers, all equally excited to see their friends dance.

As promised, Smackle was sitting in her seat, one twin in her lap, bouncing up and down on her knee and another in the stroller in front of her. The twins were only 6 months older than Noah, but being Smackle's kids, they were well beyond average brain development for their age group.

"Will you do me a favor and watch Marie? I need to go change Juliet's diaper before the show starts," Smackle asked, turning to Maya.

"Of course," the blonde said, taking the giggling 1 year old from her friend's hands. She watched as Smackle pushed the stroller off in the direction of the restroom. Marie moved her hands up and down in front of Maya.

"Bounce!"

"You want to bounce?" Maya smiled at the smart little girl. She nodded her head and started laughing as Maya accepted the request and started bouncing her knee up and down softly.

Lucas turned to his wife and threw his arm around her. "Figures. Someone takes our kid but then someone else gives us theirs," he teased, referring to their 1 year old being engaged in a riveting game of peek-a-boo with Riley and Farkle. Maya rested her head on the strong shoulder of her husband. It was the same strong shoulder she had been laying her head on since she was 16 years old. It was safe and warm, so was the arm that was wrapped around her. "You look beautiful tonight by the way," Lucas whispered in her ear, just for her to hear. Maya didn't get dressed up a lot. She spent most of her days in comfortable clothes to keep up with the kids or in paint stained t-shirts creating art work for her gallery. Her hair normally hung down loose in its naturally form or up in a ponytail, but tonight it was curled to perfection and she was wearing the pretty blue dress Lucas had bought for her to wear specially to the show.

"Such a sap," Maya mumbled into his shoulder, making sure to keep her leg bouncing for Marie. She felt Lucas's lips touch her hair, pressing a little kiss to it. It wasn't enough though. She popped her head up from its accustomed spot on his shoulder. Eye contact led to a kiss which led to another, slightly longer kiss. But Maya's head soon started missing Lucas's shoulder, the little spot in the crook of his neck. So she laid it back down and settled in.

Smackle came back and grabbed Marie back from Maya's eyes. Maya noticed Riley lean over and pull Juliet onto her lap while Noah stayed occupied with Farkle. Caroline joined Riley in playing with Juliet but Lilly came wandering over to her parents.

"When it start Mommy?" she asked, tugging on the bottom of her mom's dress. Maya didn't want to move her head from Lucas's shoulder, so she just reached forward and started pushing hair behind her daughter's ear over and over again.

"It'll start soon baby," she smiled.

"But remember you have be quiet when it starts ok? You don't want to distract Uncle Zay while he's on stage," Lucas explained. Lilly could be a little over-enthusiastic. She meant well, but she was too young to know when it was ok to talk and when you have to be a little quieter. Both parents explained to her, and Caroline, that during the show she had to not talk or make too much noise and that she had to stay in her seat the whole time. "You have to wait for each dance to be over before you cheer ok?"

Lilly arched her eyebrow confused at her dad. "But-but how will I know?"

"Well everybody else will clap baby girl. So you clap when everybody else does ok? And then when the whole show is over, everyone will stand up and we can cheer extra hard for Uncle Zay ok?" Maya smiled. Lilly's head suddenly bounced up and down, eagerly nodding.

Only a couple minutes later, Lilly climbed into her seat as the lights in the room dimmed. Maya peaked over at Lilly each time a dance ended. Amused, she saw the little girl look around the room each and every time to see if other people would clap. When the room filled with cheers and clapping, Lilly would smile, proud of herself, then join in enthusiastically. Not to anyone's surprise, Zay did amazing and even got a standing ovation for a routine he had a solo ending for. During intermission, the group went out to the lobby and bought flower bouquets to reward Zay with when the show was over. Maya kept glancing over to Noah, who sat in Farkle's arms during the whole show. She was nervous he would start crying or get fussy or too tired. After the intermission, he somehow managed to fall asleep on Farkle's lap. Maya was surprised, what with the loud music and all, that the baby managed to fall asleep. He probably got that from Maya, Lucas thought.

Once the show ended, Zay met up with everyone in the lobby. He was welcomed by flowers and hugs and Lilly asking if he heard her yell _'go Uncle Zay!'_ after his solo part. If this was 10 years ago, all of them would have suggested going somewhere after. Maybe food or maybe just hanging out at someone's house and ordering take-out for a movie night. But now it was late, almost every one of them had work in the morning and there were 5 kids who all needed to get to bed. Not to mention a pregnant Riley who, as supportive and thrilled she was for Zay and how well he had done on stage, could barely keep her sleepy eyes open.

Zay and Smackle stayed back at the theater for a little bit for the backstage celebration with the rest of the dance company. The other two married couples separated outside the theater door. Before separating, Riley leaned down to help Maya bundle the kids up. Lucas stood, holding sleeping Noah in his arms, telling Farkle to watch out for Riley. He remembered each of Maya's pregnancies like they were yesterday. He was always worried about her. Worried she would wouldn't eat enough; worried she would over exert herself and ignore her tiredness; worried she would trip or get hurt. It was kind of in Lucas's nature to worry, especially about Maya. But it was always a bit overboard when she was pregnant. With Riley having so many problems with infertility and having spent years trying to even get pregnant, Lucas found himself worried a lot. The whole group did.

"I miss you guys!" Riley exclaimed, standing back up. Maya picked up Lilly, who was yawning over and over, silently begging for sleep. The small girl immediately closed her eyes as soon as her mom lifted her, blonde hair from both girls sprawled out on Maya's shoulder. "Come over for dinner on Saturday night?" Maya couldn't say no to Riley's pleading eyes.

"Or we could come to you? Three kids probably means it's easier if we come to you," Farkle interjected.

Lucas laughed and nodded. It was definitely easier for himself and Maya to host dinner than to tote the three kids, even if Farkle and Riley only lived two blocks down the street.

After more hugs, the small group separated as Farkle and Riley began the short walk to the subway station home. The wind had built up with the night and even the three blocks to the car felt like a mile long hike to Maya. She felt Caroline grip her hand as she walked at her side. The little girl was wiping her tired eyes, ready for bed. Maya couldn't blame and she, too, was ready to crawl right into bed. Looking over at Lucas, she yearned for the days when she was the one being carried. Back when they were dating, when they were younger, Maya would jump up on Lucas's back. He was more than happy to oblige. He couldn't say no to having her arms wrapped around his neck and her lips dedicating little kisses to the side of his hair, her fingers tickling the skin of his neck. But now it was their kids in their arms. Neither would trade it for the world.

They finally made it to the car. Quickly they buckled the kids in, two of them sleeping, the other letting her eyes open and close slowly.

Buckle seat belt. Put car in drive. Hold each other's hand.

Just like clock-work.

"Why don't you go get your pajamas on Caroline and I'll be in to tuck you in in a bit ok?" Maya told her oldest as they all walked into the apartment. Caroline shuffled quietly to her pink and purple room down the hall. "I'm going to put Noah down. You tuck Lilly in?" she asked, turning to Lucas. He nodded, turning to lock the apartment door behind him.

Lucas carried his daughter into her room and carefully laid her sleepy body down. With little help from her, he changed her out of her white dress and put on her favorite unicorn pajamas that Riley had bought for her just a couple months ago for Christmas. Mr. Floppsy, her stuffed bunny, was placed carefully in her arms. She pulled him close to her chest to cradle him as the blanket on her toddler bed was pulled over her. Lucas placed a kiss on her head before hearing her little whispering voice.

"Goodnight daddy. I love you," she said.

"I love you too sweetie. Sweet dreams."

He flipped the switch on her nightlight on top of the dresser before turning off the room light. One prolonged gaze from the doorway later, the closed the door, leaving it open just a crack like Lilly always insisted on. The next door over was Caroline's room. He opened the door a bit to see her already tucked in and fast asleep. He didn't want to disturb her, so he just whispered a 'goodnight' from the doorway in a voice so low, she probably wouldn't have even heard him if she was awake. He made his way to Noah's room, stepping in all the way to his crib to see him breathing softly. The mobile on his crib was still playing a gentle, soothing lullaby. Lucas always forgot to set the music on the mobile when he put Noah to bed. Noah didn't need it to fall asleep, he could fall asleep in a heartbeat anywhere. But Maya always set it, every time she put him to bed. Lucas grinned listening to the music, thinking about his wife and looking down at Noah. He pressed a kiss to his son's head before closing the door softly. Making his way through the quiet apartment, he turned off the lights and double checked the locks on the door and windows.

Finally opening the door to his and Maya's room, he saw his wife patiently laying in their big bed. She was dressed in only what he recognized to be his blue plaid button up he had worn earlier that day. Her blonde hair was cascading over the pillows at the head of the bed and Lucas felt like doing nothing but crawling in next to her. He had to remember that he was still in his nice, white dress shirt. Pulling out a pair of grey sweatpants, he changed quickly, eager to get to his wife.

Every night, no matter what, they would lay in bed with each other and ask the other about their day. Even if they only talked for 10 minutes, it was better than nothing. Maya reached for her husband as soon as his form crawled in next to her. Under the covers, their legs tangled, Maya's feet soothingly rubbing against the hairs on Lucas's leg. His fingers played with the long strands of blonde hair that hung in waves from her head. This was the easiest thing. With the kids and Maya's gallery and Lucas's success at the vet clinic, it was easy to get busy. Things could get messy and tiring, but this was the easiest thing. With her head on his chest, Maya closed her eyes, letting her heartbeat sync with Lucas's. The room stood still. The quiet stillness was a brief welcomed state from the chaos that usually ran through the home. Maya wouldn't have it any other way than the chaos, neither would Lucas. But before the kids and the jobs, it was just this. The two of them in bed, tangled in each other, their bodies mixed up so their limbs ran through the other persons'. Lucas looked down at his wife, holding her close to him.

"So how was your day Shortstack?"

 **A/N: I had a couple requests on the reviews from last week's one-shot! So I'm working on those:) Thanks for reading you guys! It really does mean so much.**

 **Review! Love you guys**


	6. Figure Us Out: Part 2

**A/N: I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Their sophomore year of high school._

 _Summary: No one knows that they're dating. But they'll find out…. one by one. Now it's Farkle's turn._

Figure Us Out: Part 2

"Farks do you have any ice cream?" Maya asked from the large, spacious couch that sat in the middle of the Minkus living room.

Farkle gave her a curious look from his spot on the other end of the white couch. "Yes. But can't you wait until everybody else gets here to start eating? I thought we were going to order food?" Farkle asked. It was a Friday evening and the whole gang was coming over to Farkle's house for a much-needed movie night. Maya was the first to arrive to Farkle's apartment. Lucas and Zay both had baseball practice after school and Riley had to babysit for Auggie until her dad got home from his teachers meeting.

"I know but I'm hungry now!" Maya said, getting up and making her way to the kitchen.

Truth is, she was nervous to have everyone in the same room now that she and Lucas were together. It's not that everyone hasn't hung out together since they started dating. They would have lunch together every day and hang out at Topanga's after school or on weekends. But movie nights were different. The room was dark, everyone talked, everyone huddled together close. Zay had been keeping his promise to keep the two of them a secret, but Maya and Lucas kept catching him looking at them. He always had this weird little smile on his face that would make Maya giggle. It was nice actually. Having one person who knew about them, especially a person who was so happy for them to be together. They had someone to talk to about relationship stuff and Zay covered for them when they bailed on a group hangout to go celebrate their one-month anniversary at the Central Park Zoo a couple days ago. But that didn't mean she was ready for everyone else to find out.

Digging through kitchen drawers to find a spoon to use on the carton of cookie dough ice cream, she heard her phone ping loudly from the living room. It was probably just Zay or Lucas telling her they were on their way over to Farkle's. Maya didn't make it too much of a rush to make it back to the living room. Instead, she leaned her back against the kitchen counter and popped a couple spoon fulls of cold ice cream into her mouth.

"Hey Maya!" Farkle yelled from the living room. Maya couldn't place the exact emotion that left traces in his sentence, but if she had to take a guess, she would say it was confusion. Maya turned the corner and walked into the living to see Farkle holding her phone up with an arched eyebrow and confused grimace. "Why is Lucas calling you 'babe'?"

The blonde stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't do anything but freeze up, looking at Farkle staring at a message that clearly wasn't for his eyes. Carefully, trying to act casual, she set her ice cream carton on the table by the wall and took tiny steps to get to Farkle.

"What are you talking about?" she asked oblivious.

"Lucas just sent you a text that said 'Babe we're on our way over.' So why is Lucas calling you 'babe'?" Farkle asked again. Maya didn't have an answer. She couldn't think of a lie fast enough to make this question go away. Her blue eyes blinked repeatedly as her vision shifted, trying to not look directly at Farkle. "Maya?" Farkle asked, trying to pull words out of Maya.

Maya's eyes went casual and her sight went to her friend. "I'm sure it was just a mistake Farkle," she responded, tossing her hair over her head.

Farkle shook his head in reply. He held Maya's phone to see the screen better, even though he knew Maya knew what was there. The brightened screen showed a thread of texts between Maya and Lucas. The blonde sighed, knowing that if Farkle had read those texts, there would be no use even trying to hide the truth. She knew she would eventually regret not having a passcode for her phone.

"Did you read those texts?" Maya asked, already knowing the answer. Farkle gave a slight nod, but both stayed quiet. A heavy silence filled the room.

"It's not just the texts Maya!" Farkle finally said. "It's the way you two are with each other lately. You're always sitting so close and you always show with each other whenever all of us meet or when you show up to class. I'm a scientist Maya. I observe things," he explained.

Maybe she and Lucas had been a little more 'touchy-feely' since they started dating secretly, but they couldn't help it. They really did try to keep it to a minimum. Having each other's hand in theirs was becoming more of a natural state for both of the blondes. It took all their brain power to remember not to do it when they were with the group. But apparently, they weren't doing enough to hide it all from Farkle. Maya let out a deep sigh before walking over to Farkle and grabbing the phone from his hand. It looked like another person was about to know about her and Lucas.

"Sit down Farkle," Maya said.

"Maya just tell me-"

"Farkle please just sit down!" Maya commanded. "Look I'm going to tell you but you have to promise not to tell anyone."

Farkle's eyes stayed on Maya. He could easily read the honesty, and bit of worry, that was on the blonde girl's face. He could see how serious she was about this. He nodded his head, signaling her that he was ready to hear the truth. "I promise."

Maya remained standing in front of the genius. It was only a matter of time before he found out about the secret relationship the two had going on. In her head, she kept repeating that thought to herself. It had been a month since the relationship started. And at this point, they both thought they would want to tell other people. If it was going well, and it was, better than either of them thought it would, they assumed they would thrilled to tell others. But maybe it was because it was going so well that they didn't want to tell anyone else. Mostly it was Maya who wanted to keep between the two of them, and Zay now. Lucas was ready to tell the whole group, if for no other reason than to be able to hold his girlfriend's hand and stop having to fight the urge.

But Maya feared that bringing everyone else into the equation would somehow mess up what they have. Lucas tried day and night to sooth her fear, saying they couldn't keep this a secret forever. _'Just a little more time I promise.'_ Maya begged. Looking at Farkle now, about to tell him the truth, she didn't know how he would react. Truthfully, when they told Zay, it was easy to guess how he would react to the news. But Farkle was a bit of a different story.

"Lucas and I have been dating for a month now," Maya blurted out with quick words. She couldn't read Farkle's blank stare. That clearly wasn't what he was expecting. Or maybe it was and it was just shocking to hear it clarified out loud. "Please say something," Maya whispered.

"What do you mean you've been 'dating' for a month?" Farkle asked, clearly shocked and putting emphasis on the word 'dating.'

At first Maya didn't know how to make that any clearer, but soon figured she could explain a bit further. This was a pretty crazy thing to hear. "About a month ago, Lucas and I decided we wanted to give _'us'_ another shot. But we didn't want to tell people until we figured out if we even worked well together as a real couple," Maya explained, taking a seat next to Farkle on the couch. "We are dating Farkle. Lucas is my boyfriend," Maya said point blank. It felt weird to beat around the bush, especially with someone as smart as Farkle. So she decided the best thing to do would be to tell him straight out. She waited for a reaction or a sound or anything from the genius. But nothing happened. A thought ran through Maya's head that maybe she could just run away, avoid the rest of the conversation for as long as possible. But then she heard Farkle ask the question she didn't want to be asked.

"What about Riley?" his voice asked softly, as if worried.

"Lucas and Riley broke up. They both agreed that they didn't work together, Farkle. And I hate the idea of doing anything that could potentially hurt Riley. But I really like Lucas," Maya told him. A spark of emotion came through her voice that made it clear to Farkle how important this was to her. "Please don't say anything to Riley, not just yet," Maya asked.

Farkle was the one person in the world, besides Maya of course, that was super close to Riley. He told her everything and he had known her for almost as long as Maya had. He loved Maya, but he always had a sweet spot for Riley. This wouldn't be the first time he ignored Maya's feelings to spare Riley's.

Farkle didn't get a chance to answer when they heard a knock on the door. Both stayed frozen for a moment. But Maya soon got up to answer the door. Hopefully, it was Lucas and Zay. She could really use the backup right now for getting Farkle on board the 'keep the secret relationship a secret' train. Luckily, she opened the door to see her boyfriend with Zay standing next to him. The green eyes she loved so much quickly scanned the room to see that Farkle wasn't in sight.

"Where's Farkle?" Lucas asked in a whisper.

"Living room," Maya said in a lackluster tone, throwing a pointed finger towards where Farkle was sitting. Lucas had been to Farkle's enough times to know that the living room was out of sight from the doorway.

"Good," he smiled. He leaned down to peck his girlfriend on the lips. God she needed that. Zay rolled his eyes, but still gave a little smile towards the couple he secretly loved.

Zay and Lucas entered the large apartment with smiles on their faces. Those smiles quickly fell away when they noticed Maya's heavy grimace.

"Farkle knows about us," she revealed. The taller blonde in the room let his mouth drop open.

Farkle came walking around the corner and into sight. Zay backed up, not thinking he was really a part of this. The air was awkward. No one knew what to say or how to interpret what Farkle was thinking. Not even Farkle knew what he was thinking. He loved Riley, he wanted her to be happy. But he owed it to Maya to think about her feelings too. And Lucas. Maybe it wasn't his secret to tell either way.

Lucas' eyes hovered on his friend. "Farkle you can't tell anyone about us. Not yet. When they know, they have to hear it from us," he pleaded.

Farkle was deep in thought about the best course of action to take. But his eyes soon met with Zay's. Glances took place back and forth between him and the two blondes. They were both confused but soon realized that they had left out one little detail of their relationship.

"Zay already knows," Maya said.

"You know?" Farkle asked with wide eyes.

"What? About the two secret love-birds? Yeah. I've only known for like a week though," Zay smiled. The wide smirk on his face revealed a how proud he was to be the only person, up until now at least, who knew about the two of them.

Lucas brought the attention in the room back to the original matter at hand. "Are you going to keep this to yourself or not Farkle?" he asked with a bit of a tone. Maya could tell he was getting riled up with Farkle being so unreasonable. Her hand lowered to grasp at his and laced their fingers together. Perhaps it was that little action, or the way Lucas's eyes mellowed immediately after the small blonde's hand entered his, that made Farkle make up his mind.

"Fine. I'll keep it to myself," he sighed. "But," he continued, causing the couple to worry a little, "you have to tell Riley soon."

"Farkle!" Maya burst. To her, he had no right to tell her when she had to reveal her relationship.

"You can't keep this from her Maya! She's going to have to find out eventually," he promised.

Maya suddenly felt the strong hand leaves hers and land on the small of her back. "He's right," he agreed with Farkle. Easily he read the droop in her eyes as anxiety about finally telling her best friend that she was now dating her ex. "It's time we told her Maya. She won't be mad, I promise you that." Off to the side, Zay nodded in agreement. It's not like he and Lucas hadn't told her that repeatedly, but they truly meant it.

The squinted blue eyes on the small girl finally shut and she threw her hands into the air. "Fine! Fine, I'll tell Riley," she shouted. Her whole body shifted with a pointed finger between the 3 boys. "But I tell her on my own time and in my own way. But I'll do it soon alright?" All the boys nodded, satisfied.

"I can't believe this is happening," Farkle whispered. Maya and Lucas gazed over at him. "So this is why you've been looking a whole lot happier lately huh?" Farkle smiled.

"Kind of," Maya teased. She could feel the comfort of her boyfriend's fingers on her lower back as they grazed her skin. It felt so comforting to be able to do it in the comfort of her friends. Now all she had to worry about was telling Riley. And apparently soon.

Just as the perky brunette popped into Maya's blonde head, she heard her voice from the open doorway, as if on cue.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!"

Everyone in the room turned to see the brunette enter the apartment. Lucas quickly pulled his hand away from Maya's back before Riley's eyes could see it. Aiming not to make it too obvious something secret was just being discussed, Zay waved and moved into the other room. Maya just stood and stared at her best friend, trying to imagine telling her right now. The thought made her imagine Riley storming out of the room and never forgiving Maya for dating her first love.

"Hey Riles," the blonde settled for saying, remaining casual, even though her head was spinning.

 **A/N: Not my best but I wrote it in like an hour! Just wanted to get this posted on time before I go to work! Hope you guys still liked it. I think I'm doing Topanga next in the 'Figure Us Out' series… but idk yet. But anyway, see you guys next week!**


	7. But We Just Got Married

**A/N: IMPORTANT: if anyone read my other story "Sometimes Love Is Hard" this could be seen as a continuation for where that story ended. But it also reads on its own and makes sense if anyone didn't read the other story. Just wanted to make that clear.**

 **I don't own GMW, I just own the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Early 20s._

 _Summary: In which Maya has some surprising news for Lucas._

But We Just Got Married

The plane ride felt so long. Maybe it was because Lucas and Maya had left for the airport immediately after their wedding. It's not like they got to rest. They were tired beyond belief before they even got on the plane. But Maya found solace with her head rested on her new husband's shoulder, her little hand in his much bigger one. Her sleepy eyes fluttered for a while. In her ear, Lucas's voice lingered, but she was so tired she couldn't make out any of the words. The sound was nice to hear though. She would bet that it was what finally lulled her to sleep. When she woke up, her position hadn't changed much. The plane was still in the sky, less than half way to Hawaii, much to Maya's disappointment. Next to her, Lucas was asleep with his head back against his seat. The smiling girl pressed a soft kiss against her new husband's cheek.

Looking around the plane full of sleeping passengers, Maya spotted the much needed bathroom. Without thinking, she ripped her hand from that of sleeping Lucas. He didn't have much of a chance to say anything when he was woken up. His wife was already bolting to the bathroom. He smiled as he saw her wild hair bounce down the aisle of the plane. They were married. He literally got to call Maya Hart, well Maya Friar now, his forever. It was a crazy thought to him actually. But a long, overdue thought as well.

It wasn't long before Maya emerged from the bathroom and made her way back to Lucas. The air on the plane was a little cold so she tucked her hands into the sleeves of her sweatshirt and crawled into her seat, tucking herself into her husband's side.

"Are we almost there?" Maya whispered, closing her eyes.

Lucas wrapped his arms around Maya, knowing she was cold. She always got cold so easily. Lucas would tease her that it didn't seem very 'New Yorker' of her to get cold so easily in a city where 30 degrees weather was normal. But he was more than happy to be able to warm her whenever she needed.

"I don't think so Shortstack," Lucas answered. He felt Maya mope as she cuddled closer to him. "Just go back to sleep," he smiled.

"I can't. It's impossible to sleep on this plane," she whined.

Honestly, she could probably go to sleep if she tried. She already had once. But in her defense, she as tired as she was when they first got on the plane. But there was too much excitement in her system right now to let her sleep. She and Lucas had been planning a trip to Hawaii for months before he proposed, but it always got pushed back. And then after he did propose, he thought it would be perfect to surprise her with their honeymoon trip being to Hawaii. She just wanted to get there and soak up some paradise time with Lucas.

"Tell you what? Why don't we watch a movie and maybe that will put you to sleep?" Lucas suggested, leaning forward to turn on the small TV screen on the back of the seat in front of him. Maya shrugged and dug her ear-pods out of her purse on the ground. She handed a spare set to Lucas and agreed to let him pick a movie. With any luck, he would pick some sports movie. Those always put Maya to sleep.

He did pick a sports movie. But Maya was not lucky enough to fall asleep.

She was pretty close to dozing off when the stewardess came up to her and Lucas and asked if they wanted a drink or a snack.

"Can I just have a bag of chips? And a water?" Maya asked, giving up on sleep at this point. Lucas gave her a curious eye as she received her chips and water.

"You don't to celebrate with champagne or anything?" he asked after asking the stewardess for a bag of peanuts.

Maya shook her head quickly. "No, I just want water right now. It's too late at night for alcohol," she answer with a rushed voice. She quickly twisted the cap off of her water bottle and began to drink some. The stewardess rolled her cart away to the couple in the seats behind them and Maya retook her position cuddled up in Lucas's side, grasping at his arms.

"You didn't have any champagne at the wedding either," Lucas pointed out.

"Yes I did! You just… didn't see me," she said, popping a chip in her mouth. Wanting to hear no more of this conversation, she put her ear pods in her ears and focused on the movie. Lucas turned his head away and did the same, reaching over to steal a chip from the bag in his wife's hands.

After what seemed like a decade of being on that plane, finally the blonde couple landed in Honolulu. They had rented a car for their trip so they could get around the island better. They had to take an airport shuttle to the car rental place just down the street from the airport. Maya waited outside the building enjoying the island air while Lucas was inside getting the details of the car all settled.

"Huckleberry we're in Hawaii!" Maya burst when they were driving down the road to their hotel. Their hands were in between the seats, fingers laced into each other tight. Lucas felt a little pressure squeeze into his hand when his wife spoke with such happiness.

"I know Shortstack," he smiled back at her.

Instinctively, Maya put her hand on her stomach and lightly stoked her fingers of her free hand against it. It took a moment before she even knew she was doing it. She looked up at Lucas, but his attention was on the road. She moved her hand from her stomach and ran it through her hair instead.

She still didn't know how to tell him.

Soon, they pulled the car into the front of the hotel. Two bellhops came over quickly and welcomed the couple. Being Lucas, he immediately went over and opened the car door for Maya while the hotel workers gathered their bags from the trunk. Lucas led the way into the hotel, with Maya's hand in his and the bellhops close behind. It didn't take long to check-in and get into the elevator going up to the floor of the hotel. The hotel was so beautiful. Lucas had spared no expense when planning their honeymoon. It was becoming so, so worth it as Lucas watched Maya skip and dance down the hallway to their room. He even let out a laugh when they passed a room service cart and Maya enthusiastically pointed out that she wanted whatever was on that plate.

They stood in front of room 1128 as Lucas stuck the keycard into the door. Maya hung onto his back like a little monkey, feeling so thankful that she got to have a husband that would bring her to a place so amazing.

Both were blown away upon entering the room. It was huge! The bed was so massive with cozy white sheets and fancy pillows. There were even little pieces of chocolate sitting on them. Red rose petals were scattered on the bed, with more red roses in a large bouquet in a vase on the table by the balcony door. A note sat propped up against the vase. Lucas went over to read it while Maya went to see the bathroom, which was almost as big as the room and had a luxurious Jacuzzi tub sitting on the side. Lucas looked at the card that read _'Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Friar! Please enjoy your stay here at the hotel in our beautiful honeymoon suite. As out gift to you we would like to extend two free room service meals to you! Congrats again and thank you for choosing to spend your honeymoon with us.'_

"Babe they're giving us free food!" Lucas yelled to Maya who was still in the bathroom. He knew she would be ecstatic about that. When he heard a soft shriek from the bathroom, he knew he was right.

When he looked up, he couldn't believe they had completely walked by this view. He shouted for Maya to come here and stepped out the double doors to the balcony. Maya's form soon appeared and a quaint smile took over her face as she noticed the same view Lucas did. It was just becoming dawn and the sun was peaking up over the ocean that sat just in front of the hotel. The colors in this sky were going to inspire so many pieces of art when they got back home. Lucas couldn't wait to see them and insist that they hang those artworks on every free piece of their apartment wall.

Lucas looked down at his wife and saw the smile he loved on her face. He reached down and pulled her up, sitting her on the balcony railing. It was unexpected but Maya giggled as she felt her husband wrap his arms tightly around her torso so keep her from falling over. Her arms made their way up to his neck and wrap around them. She linked her hands together behind his head and smiled.

"Thank you for bringing me here," she whispered. Lucas laid a kiss on her forehead and smiled into another kiss on her lips.

"Anything for my wife," he said.

Maya's smile suddenly grew. Honestly, she didn't think she would ever get tired of hearing Lucas call her his wife. It was like the best thing she could be called. Well, 'Shortstack' had grown on her too but 'wife' was pretty great.

"Say 'wife' again," Maya teased.

"Wife," Lucas smiled, pressing another kiss to her cheek. "Wife," he said with a kiss to her neck. "Wife, wife," he laughed laying kisses anywhere he could get his lips. Maya laughed as his lips tickled her skin and made her all tingly. "Wife," he said one last time before pulling Maya's lips to his.

The kiss deepened before Lucas lifted Maya into his arms. Her little legs wrapped around his torso and she dug her hands into his hair. He carried her inside the room, not even bothering to shut the doors to the balcony. The bed was just as comfortable as they knew it would be. The white covers soon got ruffled as the two blondes ripped each other's clothes off, their lips glued together through it all. Lucas reached in his back pocket to retrieve his wallet and the condom he kept inside of it.

"I don't think we'll need that," Maya commented through huffed breath when she saw.

Lucas just scoffed and laughed. "Babe that's playing a little fast and loose. You know you forget to take you birth control pill at least once a week," he laughed.

"Yeah I know," Maya returned sarcastically. Internally, she knew she had to tell him. She had known for only a few weeks now. But she didn't want to get him nervous right before the wedding. The last thing she wanted to do was mess up their honeymoon with information like this, information of responsibility. But she knew if she didn't tell Lucas, he might plan something that she couldn't do in her state. And she couldn't spend the next week making up excuses for avoiding alcohol. Right now Maya can't help but think she should've told him on the plane. Instead, she has to ruin this nice moment they could've had. "Lucas I need to tell you something," Maya said, pushing her husband off of her.

Lucas sat up and helped Maya as she sat up next to him, crossing her legs. He could tell it was serious so he pulled the tiny girl into his lap in front of him. "What is it?"

Maya tried to think of the words; the right words in the right order. Comfort washed through her as Lucas pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Just promise me you won't be upset?" Maya asked.

"Why would I be upset?" Lucas was suddenly pushed into the zone of worry. Little goosebumps appeared on his skin, nervous for what his wife could be so nervous to tell him. Maya let her hand drop to her belly again, stroking it with her fingers, before speaking.

"We're going to have a baby," she said softly.

Lucas didn't know if he had heard her right. But when his eye sight lowered to the hand she had on her stomach, he knew he had, in fact, heard his brand new wife say they were having a baby. Maya didn't speak. She was waiting for any sign of life in Lucas to appear. He seemed to freeze at the news. It was worrisome to Maya.

"Lucas?" she asked carefully.

"But we just got married," he stuttered. "Like yesterday!"

Maya pushed her hair out of her face and looked Lucas square in the eye. She had had time to cope and come to terms with the fact that a baby was coming quicker than either of them had planned. It's not like she didn't freak out at first, because she did. Their bathroom counter must have been lined with 10 pregnancy test sticks the day she finally got up enough courage to wonder why her period was 2 weeks late because she was in such denial. And she even asked the doctor to redo the test when she had her appointment. When the doctor told her the blood test was very accurate, she was forced to accept it. She had to at least give Lucas a little time like she had to adjust to the news before he was as happy as she was to be a parent.

"I know it's sudden and it's not what we planned but I just want you to be as happy as I am! It's a lot, I know… but I think-" Maya stopped herself from continuing on her long, winded, and improved speech when she saw a dopey little smile appear on Lucas's face. "Why are you smiling like that?"

Lucas let out some huffed breaths as his smile grew bigger. His hand ran through his hair and his eyes went from Maya to her stomach and back again. "We're having a baby," he let out.

"You're not upset?"

"Why would I be upset?" Lucas's fingers suddenly sat on top of Maya's as they laid on her stomach. Her stomach was showing yet at all, but Lucas knew their baby was in there, barely formed yet. "I get to have a baby with the girl I've been in love with since I was 14 years old. And that baby is going to have your blue eyes and your wild hair and-"

Maya grabbed her husband's face and pulled him to her lips. Smiles erupted in between kisses from both blondes. A strong arm wrapped around Maya's waist and lowered her onto her back on the fluffy comforter. Blonde hair spilled everywhere, but neither cared. They looked up from pink lips and stared into the blue and green of each other's eyes. Maya let her fingers run through her husband's hair. Now she would get to call him her baby's father, which was just as sweet on the tongue.

"I love you so much," she giggled.

"I love you wife," Lucas said back, kissing her cheek.

"Husband," Maya teased.

Lucas smiled a blinding smile to express how happy he was. In paradise with the girl of his dreams, his wife. And their baby in her tummy. How lucky could one man get?

"Say husband one more time," Lucas pleaded, which caused Maya to erupt in a fit of loving laughter, leaning up for another kiss before repeating the word she could say one hundred more times.

"Husband."

 **A/N: I'M SUCH A SAP. Lol Sorry guys. I'm either dripping with hardcore, heart wrenching angst or writing some vomit-inducing sappy story like this. I don't think there is an in between.**

 **Anyway I love you guys! Thanks for reading! And for anyone who did read "Sometimes Love Is Hard" I hope this was a nice ending for you guys to leave on:)**

 **See you beautiful readers next week!**


	8. Just for Once

**A/N: This is really long! This honestly turned into a novel hahaha but I hope you guys like it!**

 _Timeline: Junior year of high school._

 _Summary: Drunken Maya and sober Lucas._

Just for Once

Somewhere late freshman year, Lucas and Billy became great friends. So great in fact that Billy started to sit with the group at their lunch table and hang out with them on weekends. No one minded, he was a lot nicer than he was in junior high. It was a little weird when Missy Bradford started to sit with them when she and Billy started dating. That took a second to get used to. But once they did get used to it, no one batted an eyelash when Missy and Maya started to be good friends, often hanging out on their own without the rest of the group. Zay found it a little weird, since Maya had previously said Missy was impossible to be around. But he figured she was just trying to make the best of the situation since it didn't look like Missy was going to be leaving any time soon.

In reality, Missy was the only one who saw how Maya looked at Lucas; how her blue irises swirled with adoration towards the blonde boy. Missy seemed to be the only one who cared enough to notice that Maya's feelings for Lucas hadn't completely disappeared like she claimed they did during their ski lodge trip. Just a few weeks after Missy joined the group by the default of Billy, she approached Maya in the hall and told her if she needed someone to talk to, she was there. Obviously, she couldn't talk to Riley about the pressing feelings she had towards her boyfriend. _'It's not like I can just tell him, Missy.'_ That's what Maya told her when Missy asked why Maya didn't just tell Lucas. She knew she couldn't just tell Lucas how she felt and everything would be fine. Riley would be heartbroken.

The triangle did end for a reason. Yes, it was mainly because Maya took herself out of the equation. She saw what the triangle, the thought of losing her first love to her own best friend, was doing to Riley. So Maya stepped back. She swallowed down her own feelings towards the Texan-born blonde and gave him up so Riley could be happy. She didn't mind. She figured she had already done it before, she could do it again.

That's what Maya thought at first at least. But after seeing the boy she wanted to be with more than almost anything be with Riley, doing the things she wished she could do with him, she started to mind more. She knew she made her choice back at the ski lodge though. It would be a lie if Maya said she never thought about maybe just saying 'fuck it' and telling Lucas. Telling him and letting him make his choice, a real choice this time. It seemed easy enough to say the words. She had already done it once. But every time she thought about doing that, she would just look at Riley. Riley was so happy with Lucas. Maya couldn't take that away from her. So she would step back again.

Maya stepped back for Riley over and over again.

For two years, Maya watched her best friend be with the guy she wanted to be with. Missy always saw the unfortunate sadness in Maya's eyes when Riley and Lucas came into view. And they were two of her best friends, it's not like she could avoid them. It got to a point somewhere during sophomore year where Maya would beg Missy to take her to parties, anywhere with alcohol so she could take a couple shots and forget about her ill-fated circumstance for a while. No one else in the group understood why Maya liked going to parties with Missy. Maya told them she liked the vibe. She didn't. She told them she liked the people. She didn't. She liked forgetting. But she always left that part out when explaining to the rest of her friends.

It got harder and harder every day for the two years that Riley and Lucas dated. Maybe the hardest day was when Riley and Lucas broke up. It happened a week ago, but according to Zay, Lucas had been thinking about it for a while. Maya sat on her fire escape, the sun just barely going down on a Friday night. Next to her was Missy, who was meticulously painting her toes a dark red color.

"She's devastated Missy!" Maya informed Missy of Riley's state. On the outside, Riley seemed like she was taking the breakup well. But she let all the tears fall in front of Maya. She had left the brunette huddled under her blankets in her bed. She told Maya she wanted to be alone for a bit and Topanga promised to look after her.

"Did she tell you what Lucas said when he broke up with her?" Missy asked without moving her eyes from where she was applying the polish.

Maya nodded, running a frustrated hand through her long hair. "He told her that their relationship didn't feel right anymore. He said it hasn't felt right for a long time," Maya revealed in a low voice. She hated Lucas for hurting Riley. But at the same time, she still loved him, she still wanted to be with him. It felt so selfish to feel that little ping of hope run through her bones that maybe now she and Lucas had a real chance to be together. That was a chance she knew she couldn't take, not while Riley was so devastated about the whole thing.

"So are you going to tell Lucas now?" Missy asked, as if reading Maya's mind.

"No! Missy Riley is my best friend, I can't do that to her," Maya exclaimed. She was saying it to herself as much as she was saying it to Missy. "And it would just unnecessarily complicate everything."

Finally Missy looked up from her toes, fanning them with her hands. She gave Maya a knowing look, arching her eyebrows in disappointment.

"You're going to give up your own happiness so everyone else will be comfortable?" Missy asked with a patronizing tone.

"For Riley? Yes."

The expression Missy wore on her face now was one of confusion, and maybe disappointment. "That is a seriously messed up point of view to have," she said.

"Why is that messed up?" Maya asked, genuinely confused.

"Because Maya," Missy started, staring Maya dead in the eye, "you can't just live your whole life ignoring your own happiness. No one else's happiness should come before your own. And I'm not saying to be selfish or to never care about anyone else, but it's not a horrible thing to do something good for you every once in a while; something that will make you happy despite how anyone else will feel about it. If you spend your life throwing yourself under the bus for everyone else, eventually you're going to get to a point where you can't get back up," Missy finished. Maya was always surprised by Missy. She was surprisingly smart and deep for someone who could spend hours just looking at herself in the mirror. Maya wished she could follow her friend's advice. But then Riley would invade her brain and Maya would somehow talk herself out of it.

The blonde lowered her head into her hands, beyond frustrated. Everything was confusing; everything had been confusing for the past 2 years. The majority of her brain was trying to convince her that Lucas didn't even feel that way about her anymore, if he ever even really did. Maybe if she told him now about how she felt, he would brush her off and she would be left humiliated and heart-broken. Then Riley would hate her for even trying to be with Lucas. Everything would be more messed up than it is now.

A little piece of her brain, and a whole chunk of her heart, told her that Lucas and she could be happy together.

Maya lifted her head out of her hands and pushed her hair back, getting the fly-away strands of gold out of her face. She turned to look at Missy, who was sitting and waiting for Maya to reply to the long speech she had just given her about not ignoring her own happiness. It was solid advice, Maya had to admit. But everything just felt like so much right now.

"You know what? I don't even want to think about any of this right now," Maya said with a sigh.

"You sound like you need a drink," Missy smirked, already reaching for her phone that laid on the fire escape next to her.

Maya scoffed at the extreme understatement. "I need several drinks. Please tell me there is a party tonight?" she asked.

Missy held up a finger, telling Maya to wait. Then she went to work typing away messages to different people, trying to find a place for them to go that night. Maya let Missy do her thing and turned her eyes down to the street below. Her eyes followed the cars as they passed by. She needed a night to not think about Riley; she really needed to not think about Lucas. Her feelings had to be drowned out, or at least put on mute for a few hours.

It didn't take long for Missy to find out that there was a party happening at a luxury condo in Manhattan that night. Some rich college kid who was friends with Missy's older brother whose parents had gone out of town. Maya didn't care who or where, as long as there was an ample supply of alcohol. Once she walked into the party with Missy, the girls went straight for the kitchen where they poured themselves two shots each and then made mixed drinks in their cliché red plastic cups.

Missy's not exactly sure when Maya had too much to drink. Maya was always really good at holding her liquor. She called it practice, going to parties and drinking with Missy every other weekend gave her a pretty high alcohol tolerance. So Missy was pretty surprised when she saw Maya on the other side of the room wasted beyond belief. For a while, she just left her alone. She wasn't getting into any trouble, but when she looked over and saw Maya throw up in a potted plant, she figured it was time to get her to bed.

The guy throwing the party was nice enough to let Missy lay Maya down in his parent's bedroom, since he was apparently planning on having sex with his girlfriend in his own room not too long from now. The blonde didn't cause too much trouble when Missy stumbled into the room with her draped over her arms. She laid the drunk girl in the bed and heard her mumble some not understandable things about Lucas.

"I'm going to call Lucas right now ok?" Missy told Maya as she pulled the trash can from the other side of the room and put it by the bed in case Maya needed to throw up again.

"N-no!" Maya exclaimed, her eyes closed. "Don't call Lucas!" She was struggling hard to get out coherent words, but Missy understood that. There was some mumbles that came after, but Missy understood none of it. She didn't ask Maya to repeat herself, assuming it was just drunk jabber, and nodded her head instead.

Missy stepped outside the bedroom, closing the door behind her. She knew Maya needed to go home, but she herself wasn't ready to leave yet. She didn't even trust herself to get Maya home. Missy was having trouble remembering her own address right now, much less Maya's. Usually, when they were at a party and Maya needed to get home, one of them would call Zay. He would always come and get Maya, no problem. He never complained. But drunk Missy had a better plan tonight. She stepped out onto the balcony and barricaded herself over in the corner so the other party-goers on the balcony couldn't hear her. She dialed the number she was sure Maya would know by heart and waited for an answer.

"H-hello?" a sleepy voice answered on the other side of the phone after several rings. It was late and Missy should have known he would be sleeping. Actually, even drunk she knew to be surprised he even answered her call at all.

"Lucas!" she let out.

"Missy? It's late. Why are you calling me?" Lucas asked confused. He figured the only reason why Missy would be calling him is because it had to do with Maya.

"It's Maya," Missy said plainly, confirming his fear.

Lucas all of a sudden felt himself be 10 times more awake than he was 5 seconds ago. The sound of the tiny blonde's name made him alert as he reached over to turn on his light. "What's wrong? Is she ok?" he asked, trying not to sound too concerned.

Missy could hear the concern from 100 miles away though. She giggled under her breath, well at least she thought she did. Drunk Missy had actually let out a full-fledged laugh. Lucas was confused by the laughter, but assumed she was drinking and decided to ignore it. He just wanted to know what was wrong with Maya.

"Missy? Go back to Maya, what's wrong with her?" he asked again.

Missy quickly composed herself and took a deep sigh before answering. "She's wasted. I need you to come and take her home. Even for a girl who's 5 feet tall, she's too heavy for me to hold up the entire way home and I honestly don't even remember what street I live on. I definitely don't remember what street she lives on," Missy explained, chuckling at the last part. Lucas was on the other end of the phone already changing out of the grey sweatpants he had worn to bed and into a pair of jeans and blue long sleeve shirt.

"Where are you guys Missy?" Lucas asked, slipping on his shoes.

Missy took a second to remember that they were even in Manhattan. "Um, I think I have the address on my phone. I'll send it to you," she promised.

"I'm on my way right now! Keep an eye on her until I get there."

Lucas was about to get on the subway and get to the address he had received from Missy while he was coming down the fire escape. But then he thought about what Missy had said about how she would have to carry Maya home. Carrying Maya meant that the blonde couldn't even walk. God how drunk was she? Lucas never liked Maya hanging out with Missy so much. He was worried Missy would get Maya into trouble. Maya was really turning her life around with getting better grades in school and not skipping class as much. He didn't want Missy to ruin all that for her. Lucas was pretty impressed with Missy for calling him to come and get Maya when she noticed Maya was too drunk. For that, he owed Missy credit.

He didn't want to take drunk Maya on the subway. She was light and she would be easy to carry for him, but it would attract too much attention. And if they passed a cop who saw how wasted Maya was, they would both be screwed. Taking a cap crossed his mind, but it would end up being expensive for the cab driver to take them from uptown Manhattan all the way to Maya's apartment. Lucas didn't have nearly that much cash on him and he didn't want to waste time by stopping at an atm. So he decided to do something he knew he wasn't supposed to do. If he got caught, it would make getting stopped by a cop with wasted, under-aged Maya on the subway look preferable.

Sneaking back into the apartment through his bedroom window, the same way he slipped out, he made his way quietly to the living room. There was a small key-tree on the table by the door. Lucas slid his dad's keys off the tree and stuffed them in his pocket. He went back downstairs and walked over to the white pick-up truck parked on the curb. It was one of his dad's trucks from work, the company trucks his employees would use. Lucas wasn't sure why his dad brought it home with him, he usually just left them at the office space, but he was glad it was here. Climbing into the driver's seat, he started it up and drove towards the direction of the party as fast as he could without getting pulled over.

The condos where the party was were so nice. Each floor was literally one whole apartment. Even from the street down below, Lucas could look up and tell which floor the party was on. He could see people on the balcony and lights flashing from the same apartment. The party was on the 16th floor so Lucas made his way up the elevator impatiently. Once the elevator doors opened, his ears were hit hard with the sound of loud music and his nose was hit even harder with the stench of alcohol. There were people everywhere, moving back and forth, guys and girls making out in almost every corner.

Lucas is pretty tall so he started to look over the crowd to see if there was a familiar face anywhere. It wasn't until he moved into the kitchen that he spotted Missy. She was taking sips straight from a half empty bottle of apple flavored vodka and dancing with what seemed to be some random, older looking guy. Lucas rolled his eyes and walked over to her.

"Missy!" he shouted over the music. Missy looked up and straight at Lucas. Her eyes went wide with excitement, which Lucas was sure was just the alcohol making her elated.

"Lucas! Oh my god you came!" she exclaimed, putting down the vodka bottle and wrapping her arms around Lucas.

The guy she was previously dancing with just rolled his eyes and walked away as he saw the interaction between Lucas and Missy. Lucas couldn't help but take a second to wonder how many times Missy had danced with guys who aren't Billy while she was intoxicated.

"Where's Maya Missy? I told you to watch her," he asked, not wanting to use too much of a tone with the drunk girl. Although, he was having a small panic attack thinking of Maya alone in a party like this while she was so drunk.

Missy's face straightened, as if she was temporarily taken out of her drunken state to make sure Maya got help from Lucas. "Come with me," she ordered, taking his hand.

Lucas was led out of the kitchen and through the packed apartment full of people. They moved almost to the other side of the apartment completely before they stopped at the door that held Maya on the other side. Missy knocked, even though she was pretty sure Maya was knocked out fast asleep in the bed. They soon found that wasn't the case though when they opened the door and saw the blonde throwing up into the trashcan Missy had left by the bed. Lucas pushed the door open and ran over to Maya. He took a seat on the bed next to her and let his hand rub circles in her back to comfort her heaving body as she vomited into the tin basket.

"Why did you let her drink this much?" he berated Missy, who had closed the door and was now leaning on the nightstand, having trouble standing on her own.

"Hey! I'm not her babysitter," she defended herself.

"You're the one who brought her here," Lucas was quick to remind. Maya had stopped throwing up, but she held her head right over the can still just in case more came up unexpectedly. Lucas pushed her hair back to see her face was pink and her eyes were wet and her nose runny. Without words, he motioned to the tissue box on the nightstand Missy was leaning against. She passed him he box and he used a tissue to wipe Maya's nose and dap her eyes dry.

"She is the one who asked to come tonight Lucas! It was her idea to even come," Missy revealed.

Lucas looked up confused. His hand was still rubbing Maya's back. He stopped moving his hand for a second to stare with squinted eyes at Missy. But the second his hand stopped, the sick blonde next to him grunted under her breathe. He started up again, gently rubbing her back in giant circles, sometimes stopping to stroke her back with his thumb, then continue in the circle pattern. It seemed to calm Maya down enough.

"Why would Maya want to get this drunk?" he asked Missy.

Missy gave him a knowing look. "I bet you already know the answer to that if you think hard enough," Missy answered, vague. It felt to Lucas almost as if that answer was some sort of accusation.

"What?"

"She's upset Lucas!" Missy burst. "God you are so oblivious," she continued under her breath. She was just drunk enough to think she said the last part low enough to not be audible to Lucas. Considering he was sitting only a couple feet from her, he did hear it. He was about to acknowledge it when he felt Maya's body move up and down with a deep breath she was taking in.

Lucas wasn't about to waste any more time questioning Missy, who for all he knew was just saying drunken nonsense. "You ready to go home?" he asked Maya. The blonde nodded and put the trashcan on the floor. "Come on Shortstack," he practically whispered, lifting Maya into his arms. Immediately, she wrapped her arms around his neck and clasped her hands behind. Her eyes shut tight the second her hair laid on the soft fabric of his shirt on his shoulder. "Are you going to get home ok?" he turned to ask Missy.

"Yeah I'm just going to make my brother take me home. He's here somewhere," she told him.

"You sure?" Even though Missy nodded, he didn't completely trust her to know that she had a safe way to get home. "If you end up not being able to get your brother to take you, call Billy," Lucas instructed her.

Missy just laughed at the thought. "Are you kidding? Billy would freak if he knew I came to a college guy's party!" she laughed. Lucas knew it was true. Billy got pretty territorial with Missy. Probably because he wasn't oblivious to the fact that Missy would dance with random guys when she was drunk enough. Lucas laughed with Missy, still holding Maya in his arms.

"Well then call me. Maya would kill me for not getting you home safely if something happened to you," he laughed. Missy nodded and all but pushed Lucas out the door, knowing Maya had to get home.

Carefully, Lucas buckled Maya into the front of the car. She leaned her head against the cool glass of the window. Lucas looked through the glove compartment and the back seat of the truck hoping there would be a plastic bag somewhere to give to Maya in case she had to throw up. There were no bags anywhere. He rolled down the windows slightly to get some cool air in the car for Maya. If she threw up in his dad's work truck he would kill Lucas. Lucas was not allowed to drive the work trucks from his dad's company. His dad considered that one of his most important rules. The work trucks were only insured for someone from the company driving them; that didn't include Lucas. So insurance wouldn't cover anything that happened to the truck if Lucas was driving. Because of this, he was only allowed to drive it if it was an absolute emergency. Lucas was 110% sure his dad wouldn't consider picking a drunk friend up from a party an emergency.

After driving almost 60 miles an hour across town, keeping a side eye on his sick passenger the whole time looking for signs that she was going to vomit and he would need to pull over fast, Lucas pulled the truck up to the curb in front of Maya's apartment. Before getting out, Lucas looked over at Maya. She looked so peaceful. He pushed a large chunk of golden hair behind her ear, softly so she didn't stir.

"Maya?" he asked. His hand reached down and rested on the bare skin of her knee with his fingers stroking slowly. Maya's head turned to face him, but her eyes stayed closed.

"Hm?"

"Are your parents' home?" Lucas asked in a low voice.

Maya's head shook to answer no. "No. Romantic weekend trip at the cabin," she whispered in a hoarse voice.

Lucas moved quick, walking around to her car door and pulling her out in his arms. He carried her upstairs to her apartment and easily made his way inside with her key. It was a slower walk to her room. Lucas didn't want to let go of having his arms around her. He could feel the warm breath of her breathing on his neck and the tickle of her blonde hair on his chin. These little sensations would end the second he put her in her bed. He let go of his selfishness when he made it to her bed and admitted to himself that he knew she would be a lot more comfortable in there. He laid her down and sat on the edge of the bed to take off her shoes. Maya was silent as Lucas carefully removed her jacket. He left the room for a minute to grab the trashcan from the bathroom, a water bottle, and a bottle of Advil. As he set the trashcan down next to the bed and the two bottles on the nightstand, he didn't notice Maya's blue eyes looking up at him, following his movements.

"Lucas?" Maya's small voice asked. Surprised, Lucas looked over at her. "Why are you here?"

Lucas looked on with confusion at the question. "Why wouldn't I be here?"

"Because I'm not the girl you picked," she said with a sad tone. Even as drunk as she was, she quickly released that she regretted letting that sentence slip from her lips. She ignored the concerned expression on Lucas's face and just rolled over so she faced the wall next to her bed. Her head raced, and pounded from the excess of alcohol, just hoping Lucas would let her sleep and forget what he just heard.

Lucas was about to do no such thing though. Warily, he sat on the edge of the bed, gently putting his hand on Maya's arm. "Maya look at me," his cautious voice asked.

Maya didn't move at first. Her eyes stared a hole in the wall in front of her. She didn't want to face him or explain what was going on in her mind that moved her to say what she just said. 'Try' to explain would be better said. Sober or drunk Maya was conflicted and jumbled and confused. Reluctantly, the blonde rolled over to face Lucas.

"What did you mean by that?" Lucas asked, his green eyes boring into Maya's blue ones.

"Nothing Lucas. Can we just drop it? I don't feel good," Maya mumbled. Her hand moved up to her forehead, masquerading as trying to compose a headache, but really was trying to hold back tears.

"No Maya I'm not going to let it go," Lucas exclaimed. "I just picked you up drunk at 2 AM, you owe me an explanation to what you just said," he said.

Maya sat up as quick as her spinning head would let her. "I don't owe you anything Huckleberry. Ok after everything we've been through, I don't owe you anything," Maya pushed back.

Lucas couldn't deny she was right. Regret rushed through him enough to flush his cheeks pink. Luckily, Maya was drunk enough to not notice. She was currently busy trying to focus her attention on one spot, as the room was spinning around in front of her.

"Ok fine, you're right. You don't owe me anything," Lucas agreed. Maya's eye sight went away from his eyes, not being able to stare into the pure green any longer. For the past two years, she hadn't looked into his eyes. Not really. It was one of the things she missed the most from before the stupid triangle fiasco. She used to look into those eyes like her life depended on it; he would look into hers too. But now she couldn't look into them without getting lost in the green and wishing she could be with the guy they belonged to. Even when she noticed Lucas's hand reach over and rest on top of her little hand, she tried her hardest to not look up at him. "But would you please just talk to me?" he asked in a small voice, like he was afraid of her reaction to the question.

The small blonde pulled her legs up almost to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, pulling her hand away from Lucas's light grip. This was not the time, she couldn't help but think that. Her head was pounding, she was focusing on not throwing up again, and she couldn't even see straight. At the moment, she would rather walk home in the dark right now, stumbling and tripping than talk to Lucas about this. Brows furrowed as she was deep in thought about how to get around this question, she suddenly looked up. Everything changed when she caught sight of those green eyes that used to bring comfort. Her mind and will power was weakened by alcohol and she knew the effect was something she might regret later.

Her gaze settled on him with a heavy expression. "Kiss me," she said suddenly.

Lucas's eyes grew wide at the request he didn't see coming. Blinking uncontrollably, but unable to take his eyes off of her, Lucas shifted back. "What?"

"Kiss me," Maya said again matter-of-factly. She had no qualms in her voice. Her eyes were steady on the boy and her voice was strong as if, for a moment, she didn't realize what she had said or who she said it to.

"Is this the alcohol talking?" Lucas asked.

"No this is not the alcohol Lucas!" Maya burst out. "Yes I am drunk right now and this entire room hasn't stopped moving since we got here, but this is not the alcohol. This is me finally doing something for me!" Lucas's mouth hung agape. Nothing could have prepared him for this. Nothing could have even suggested to him that this would be happening when he got in the car to go pick her up from the party. "I always do everything for everybody else before I even think about me. And you have no idea how I want to kiss you. So for once in my whole life, I just want to do something that will make me happy without thinking about how it affects anybody else, including Riley," ranted Maya.

The boy in front of her didn't know how to react. His mouth still open with furrowed eyebrows, he watched as Maya searched his face for any sign of a reaction. But he had none. Well, no visible reaction. In his head, he was considering what she said.

"Maya I'm not going to kiss you," he answered.

Maya jerked back from her spot as she suddenly snapped back into reality. The look of horror and embarrassment landed on her face. "Oh my god! I don't know why I said that, I shouldn't have said that! Of course you wouldn't want to kiss me," Maya said breathlessly. It was like her judgement caught up to her words and she was fully prepared for rejection. But her drunk state just made the whole thing more embarrassing. Her emotions were high and she couldn't sit anymore. She jumped up from her spot on the bed and started pacing the room.

"Maya," Lucas said from his spot on the bed, trying to get her attention.

"You don't have those feelings for me. And that's ok. I'm sorry I asked you to do that, it wasn't fair!" the blonde kept ranting.

"Maya."

Maya gave no sign that she even heard Lucas call out her name as her feet kept moving her back and forth across the floor. "I shouldn't have said it. It's just I haven't looked at you, really looked at you, in 2 years," she cried. Finally, Maya turned to face Lucas. "And now I am. And we're here, in my room, and you're taking care of me. And all I want to do is kiss you," With those words, Maya couldn't look at Lucas anymore. The pacing continued and her eyes stayed glued on her hands as they tangled around each other. "Do you know how hard it was for the past two years to be the girl who looks at her best friend's boyfriend and only wants to kiss him?"

"Maya!" Lucas yelled to her. The blonde finally seemed to let his voice into her ear and her body turned to look at him. His figure rose from the bed and made little steps to her, trying not to scare or intimidate her. Protectively, her arms folded across her chest. "I am not going to kiss you right now because you are drunk. And when I kiss you, I don't want you to be drunk. I don't want you to feel sick and to be honest, I'm not even sure if you're going to remember this whole conversation in the morning. And when I kiss you, I sure as hell want you to remember it."

'When.' That word dug its way into Maya's brain deeper and deeper. At a certain point, Maya started to realize if the room was spinning because the alcohol or because of the word 'when.'

"'When' you kiss me?" Maya asked. Her voice was timid and small, still not quite sure she had heard him right.

"Maya I like you. And you're the one who told me that you didn't have those feelings for me," he told her. His fingers pushed a strand of gold behind her ear as a smile crept onto his face. "And god I really want to kiss you right now. But I'm not going to do it while you're drunk."

Every vein in Maya's body shook with exhilaration. She wished more than anything that she was sober. A kiss from the boy she cared for so much would be on her lips, but at the very least she would be able to properly process what he was telling her.

"That's very 'Lucas' of you," Maya grinned. A laugh escaped from Lucas, his fingers pushing the same little strand of hair behind her ear over and over. Just the excuse to touch her was enough for him. The moment itself was made even more intimate the second Maya looked up straight into those green eyes she loved so much, only to see them staring back into hers already. "It was also very 'Lucas' of you to come and pick me up at 2 in the morning. So thank you," Maya made sure to tell him. It wasn't a little thing. She took note of how much he had done for her, even just tonight.

"You don't have to thank me. Just do me a favor?" He waited for the soft nod from Maya to continue. "This kiss thing…ask me again when you're sober?"

"Ok," Maya whispered, a large grin spreading on her lips.

The blue irises glazed over as she stared up at the boy in front of her. Awe and adoration took turns being front and center in her mind. Lucas couldn't help but wonder out loud what she was thinking. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked when he noticed Maya wasn't blinking.

"Part of it is the kiss thing. But the other part of it is that this room literally won't stop spinning and I'm getting really dizzy."

Up until now, Lucas had almost forgotten that Maya was drunk beyond belief. He forgot she was tripping over herself as she paced the floor just minutes earlier. He forgot that her speech kept getting slurred and messy during her rant. He forgot it was the middle of the night and that the girl in front of him was sick. "Come on," he grinned, leading Maya back to her bed. "I'm going to sleep on the couch tonight in case you need me ok?"

Maya nodded, allowing Lucas to pull the blankets over her. Her sleepy eyes were suddenly begging to shut and she was more than willingly to let them. But when she heard the soft thuds of Lucas's feet walk towards the door, she used the last bit of strength in her to open her eyes again. "Huckleberry?" she called out. He turned back to look at her, concern in his eyes. "Can you rub my back like you did before?"

Grinning, Lucas walked back to the bed without a verbal answer. Maya rolled over with her back to the boy as he climbed into the bed. His elbow propped him up so his other hand could gently rub circles in her back like he had done earlier in the night. He leaned forward, giving into his wants, and pressed a soft kiss into Maya's tangled hair. He didn't see it, but Maya grew a small smile just before giving into her deep desire to fall into an alcohol induced sleep.

Lucas rubbed her back even after he felt her breathing even out as she fell asleep. Grinning down at the girl who he secretly harbored feelings for, pushed away a lot of feelings for. It was a completely unexpected for this to all come out tonight, but Lucas was glad it was all on the table. He knew Maya well enough to know that it would be like pulling teeth to get her to continue this conversation, especially when even he knew it would affect Riley. But right now he had this moment. It wasn't perfect, but their relationship was never perfect; so maybe it fit them.

After a couple hours of lying next to Maya, Lucas forced himself to get up and take his dad's truck back to his house. But after slipping the truck keys back onto the key tree in his living room, he left. He got on the subway and went right back to Maya's apartment, where there was a sick, soon to be hungover, blonde girl who needed him.

 **A/N: I had this idea a while back after reading the prompt "Kiss Me" on my prompt list and it took me a second to get the full story formed. But I really like how this turned out! How did you guys like it!**

 **Next week I think it will be the next installment of 'Figure Us Out.' So look forward to that! Love you my readers!:)**


	9. Would You Want It With Me?

**A/N: I'm the worst for posting this 2 days late! I'm sorry guys work had been completely crazy and next week I have 40 hours at one job and then another 25 at my other job plus it's one of my best friend's birthday next week so I will probably have ZERO TIME to write. I'll try my very hardest to write a quick one-shot this week so I can have it and then I just have to find a quick moment to post.**

 **But here is this for you to enjoy! It's a complete fluff piece lol Kind of short but I just wanted to get something out to you guys**

 _Timeline: Sophomores in college._

 _Summary: A certain circumstance leads to a Lucaya talk about children._

Would You Want It With Me?

"You're what!?" Maya shouted across the table. The blonde and her friends sat in their usual spot at Topanga's with Maya on the couch next to Lucas. Her eyes met with her best friend's as she sat across the table next to Farkle.

"I'm- we're," Riley corrected, grabbing Farkle's hand in hers. "We're pregnant."

Everybody's jaws dropped to the ground. Lucas was frozen in place, waiting for his friends to laugh and tell him they were joking. But that didn't happen. Zay sat in the chair next to the table and started shifting his gaze to and from everyone sitting around him. He wasn't really sure what he was feeling and he wanted to see everyone else's reactions. Maya was the most shocked. This was Riley, he best friend. 'Goody two-shoes Riley." The very last person Maya, or anyone else, expected to get pregnant at 19 was Riley.

"Somebody please say something," Farkle requested of the group.

Eyes turned to each other with no voices speaking up. Stuttering sounds came out of Maya's mouth as she tried to search for appropriate words, but she came up short.

"Look don't get us wrong, we're all happy for you guys," Lucas announced. "But- it's just- I mean… you both so young."

The group was just finishing up their sophomore years at their respective colleges. They were young, but already achieving success in their dreams. Summer was supposed to be their time. Both Farkle and Zay went to school out of state and summer was the time when everybody made their way home to New York. And here they were, everyone home, just a couple weeks left in Riley's semester and just one week left in Lucas's, and Riley and Farkle were announcing they were having a baby. It was a large pill to swallow.

Riley looked over at Farkle and everyone could tell they were having one of their famous silent conversations. The apparently pregnant girl's big brown eyes turned back to the group. "It's not like we planned this. And there is so much that we have to figure out with us being only 19 and still in college and Farkle being out of state for school," Riley's voice trailed off, seeming to be overwhelmed listing off all the road blocks they had in front of them. But a little pressure to her hand from Farkle next to her calmed her down a bit. "But we're both really excited. And we want you guys to be excited too."

Smiles erupted everywhere. "Of course we're excited! How could we not be?" Zay spoke for everyone. Riley's little giggle set off a chain reaction of each person in the circle getting up to hug the happy couple and give their congrats. On her turn, Maya leaned in close to Riley's stomach.

"Hey little baby, I'm your god-mommy," she smiled. "At least I better be!" she looked up at Riley, who was already smiling and laughing at the thought of anyone else being the god-mom.

"Of course you are Peaches!"

"Have you told your parents yet?" Zay asked. The smiles immediately wiped off of the two expecting parent's faces.

Farkle nervously scratched the back of his neck with his hand, looking over at Riley. "No not yet. But my parents and Riley's parents are all having dinner with us tonight. We're going to tell them then."

Maya looked up at Lucas, whose arm was draped over her shoulder. She smirked thinking about if she had to tell Shawn that Lucas had gotten her pregnant at 19. Lucas would be dead before she could even get an explanation out of her mouth. Cory and Shawn were very similar in how protective they were over Maya and Riley. Envy was definitely not an emotion Maya felt towards Riley right now.

"Yeah we should go get ready. We just really wanted to tell you guys first," Riley smiled, gathering her things up in her hands.

"Yeah I should head out too. I'm helping my dance teacher teach a class tonight at her studio," Zay declared before finishing off his coffee and throwing it away in the trach can by the counter. "Good luck tonight guys!" he yelled to Riley and Farkle before disappearing out the door of the bakery.

Riley and Farkle left just minutes after Zay did, leaving just Maya and Lucas sitting on the couch. Maya had her legs draped over her boyfriends as her fingers combed absent-mindedly through her hair.

"That's crazy about Riley and Farkle. I can't believe they're having a baby," Lucas breathed out.

"I know. But they'll be good parents," Maya smiled.

Those were two of the most wonderful and caring people she knew. And Riley had the best teachers with Topanga and Cory as parents. They had nothing to worry about. They were getting exactly what they deserved. The road would be a little bumpy for a while, but Maya smiled to herself feeling such an insane joy that two of her best friends were going to be getting their happy ending together.

"Do you want kids?" Lucas suddenly asked after several minutes of silence.

"Umm…"

The two blondes had never talked about kids before. They were only 19 and 20 after-all. Not only that, but they had only been dating for a little over a year. But the topic was here staring them right in the face. To be honest, Maya thought about it sometimes. Not often. She didn't let herself think about it often. That was too much hope for her that a family of her own was even an option for someone like her. She had her mom and Shawn and they were amazing. But a family of her own where her kids grew up more like Riley than herself and her lonely, fatherless years, that seemed to be hoping for too much.

"I didn't used to. I didn't want to have kids and then have them live a childhood like mine was," she answered honestly.

Lucas's hand quickly made its way to hers and lace his fingers in. Maya wouldn't ever understand how much it hurt him to know that her life used to be the way it was or that she ever felt like she wasn't good enough for anyone to stick around for. In return, Lucas would never truly understand how Maya felt all those years. "I get that," he admitted. It seemed to make sense that Maya wouldn't want children. Things had gotten so much better for her though. "What about now?"

Maya smiled a genuine smile. Her gaze dropped to their hands as they sat clutching each other in her lap. "I think now I want kids of my own."

"Really?"

"Mhmm," Maya laughed. "I think I want a boy and a girl. But the boy has to be older so he can be really protective over her."

Lucas couldn't help but let a large smile spread across his face. "I want a big family," Lucas admitted, his thumb starting to stroke the back of Maya's hand. They had never talked about this kind of thing before. It was a nice thing to talk about. It was genuine and real. "And I can take them to Texas a lot and teach them about the animals."

"You're going to make our kids little Huckleberry's aren't you?" Maya laughed.

She hadn't fully realized what she had just said until Lucas narrowed his eyes towards her. "'Our' kids?" he wondered, using her words.

A red color quickly flushed over Maya's cheeks. "I didn't mean- I-I- just… I- not that I think we're…" Maya stuttered. This was the first time she and Lucas had ever had a conversation about the future and she was already implying that in her mind she had them married with kids and spending their whole lives together. She didn't want to scare him or make him think everything was too fast. What if he didn't picture them ending up together that seriously?

It wasn't until Lucas's light-hearted chuckle broke through Maya's stuttered words that he took her out of her nervous trance. "Maya! It's ok," he laughed. "I mean, I've thought about it, too. You and me at that point," he revealed.

Slowly, a grin just as nervous, but joyous, as her boyfriend's appeared on Maya's lips. "Really?" she asked. Lucas just nodded. Maya pushed the messy tangles of blonde hair out of her face and over her head. Her body shifted until she was closer to Lucas, practically leaning into his chest, her legs still settled over his. Lucas threw his arm over his girlfriend's shoulders, letting his fingers twirl gold locks around. "What do you think about?" Maya asked.

"I think about you and me living in some cute apartment. Probably somewhere in the village, you like it there. And we could have a big window in the living room that lets in all the light so you could set up you're your art space. We could set up an easel and all of your paints," he grinned down at the blonde who couldn't wipe the grin off her face. To her, it seemed very 'Lucas' to imagine all of this. She never thought she would be lucky enough to have him imagine it about her though. "And all our kids could paint over there too. There would be 6 of them and-"

"Woah woah woah there Huckleberry! We are not having 6 kids!" Maya demanded with a smirk.

"That's not too many!"

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one who has to push them out, Huckleberry," Maya pointed out. Lucas laughed, giving Maya a "touché." Maybe 6 was a little high, but he was an only child. He felt it was only natural for him to want a big family.

Not being able to resist the urge, Lucas pulled Maya even closer into him, practically melting when she laid her head on his shoulder. "Ok maybe 6 is a lot. What about 4?" he offered.

"3," Maya counter-offered.

Lucas thought for only a moment. "Fine but if we only have 3 kids then we get to have 2 dogs!"

"Deal!" Maya answered immediately.

If Lucas was being honest, he would admit that having even just one kid with Maya's blue eyes would probably be enough for him.

And if Maya was being honest, she would admit that she would probably say yes to have 6 kids, as long as they all had Lucas's soft dimpled smile.

"You can seriously see yourself marrying me?" Maya asked, looking up at Lucas.

"Honest answer?" he asked. Maya gave a nervous nod. But Lucas just shrugged and answered with as much honesty as he could. "I can't even imagine it being anybody else." Maya rolled her eyes, not surprised at the sappy answer her Huckleberry boyfriend gave her. "I'm serious!" Lucas chuckled. "You're my person. We're going to do it a little slower than Riles and Farkle, but we have all the time in the world. Whether we have 1 kid or 10 kids, I'm going to have them with you. Because I want them to have your blue eyes and high-spirited personality!"

No response came from Maya. Instead, all she had to do was reach up and press and a kiss to Lucas's jawline. They had never talked about kids or having a real future together. But both had thought about it. Lucas more than Maya. Maybe that was about to change though. Maya didn't allow herself to hope too much. Especially for something as grand as a family of her own with happy kids and a husband who loved her and came home every night. Maya had Lucas, and Lucas wasn't going anywhere.

Under her boyfriend's chest, she could hear his steady heartbeat. She could feel her heart race under her own chest. This was always the feeling Lucas gave her, in the best way possible of course. Now Riley was about to get her happy ending. That was clear. But maybe now, with Lucas, Maya could actually believe she could get hers too.

 _'_ _Maybe hope isn't for suckers'_ , she thought to herself right before pressing another kiss to Lucas's strong jaw, then waiting for him to turn his head so she could catch his lips with hers.

 **A/N: Just a super quick one to get posted! I know I said at the end of the last one-shot that this would be Topanga's part of the "Figure Us Out" series, but I couldn't find the right inspiration for it. And I've had this idea floating in my head for a while so I figured I could write this one for you guys!**

 **Hope you enjoyed! Next update will either be Topanga's part (if I find the inspo for it) or it will be a massive attack of some serious angst lol**

 **Please review! Let me know which one-shot has been your favorite so far and what you want to see coming up! Love you guys:)**


	10. Figure Us Out: Part 3

**A/N: WOW this is getting up so late! But here it is finally and I actually was able to write the Topanga view of "Figure Us Out" so I hope you guys enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Their sophomore year of high school._

 _Summary: No one knows that they're dating. But they'll find out…. one by one. Even Topanga stumbles upon them. ._

Figure Us Out: Part 3

Riley still didn't know about Maya and Lucas. Farkle would remind the blonde about it nearly every chance he got. Zay was adamant about letting Maya know that she didn't have to tell Riley if she didn't want to, taking the opposite position of Farkle. It was up to Lucas to play devil's advocate and tell Maya as much as he wanted everyone to be able to know, it was up to Maya to decide when her own best friend knew. Even though every part of him burned to tell Riley.

The whole gang was sitting in Riley's bedroom, helping each other with homework. Maya kept looking up from the biology homework Riley was helping her with at the Huckleberry sitting on the floor across from her. Most of the time, she looked up to see him already staring her way. Little smiles always crept onto their faces, but they didn't last long, to make sure Riley didn't spot it.

"Lucas it's almost 5," Zay announced, interrupting a moment of eye contact between the two blondes.

"What?" Lucas asked confused once he was broken out of his gaze. Maya composed herself and glanced up at Riley to see if she had caught sight of anything. Luckily, her eyes hadn't lifted from a problem on the biology sheet that she couldn't figure out.

"We have a practice tonight," Zay elaborated.

It took Lucas a second to fully come back into the real world to realize he was talking about the night practice the baseball team had that night to prepare for this weekend's game. "Oh right!" he exclaimed, packing up his things.

"Can the rest of us take a break, too? I can't look at another bio question," Riley sighed.

"I vote for food!" Maya quickly suggested. Everyone joined in in a laugh before Farkle and Riley nodded their heads, realizing how hungry they were.

Both Maya and Lucas took a little longer to pack up their things, hoping the others would just leave them alone to finish. Maya pushed her things all organized, very out-of-character for her, over to the side of Riley's bedroom. Lucas meticulously made sure he had everything in his baseball bag that he needed for practice. No one seemed to notice the extra time they were taking. Farkle had scooted closer to Riley and the two were engaged in some kind of conversation, not that Maya or Lucas made an effort to listen to what it was. They just wanted to be left alone so they could get a proper goodbye in. Only Zay seemed to notice out of the corner of his eye the look that Maya gave him, telling him to leave and take the others with him.

"Guys come on let's get going," Zay spoke.

Farkle quickly caught on after shooting a look towards Maya and Lucas. He sighed, gave a tiny smile, and walked towards the door to stand by Zay. Riley looked up at Maya, waiting for her best friend.

"Riles you go ahead. I'm, um- I'm… just going to borrow a sweater from your closet! I'll be down in a sec," Maya stumbled through her words. She wasn't sure if her excuse was going to be accepted, but Riley soon smiled and stood with the others.

Maya glanced up at Lucas, who was currently trying to think of his own excuse. "I'm going to use the bathroom," he said. Zay fought back a laugh that that was the best her could come up with. "I'll come down with Maya."

The three friends in the bedroom doorway smiled, two of them more knowingly than the perky brunette next to them, and shuffled off out the door. Maya turned to her boyfriend to see him already looking at her.

"You don't understand how hard it is not to be able to even look at you when Riley is around," Lucas smiled.

"Seriously you look at me too much," Maya laughed. She knew she looked at him probably just as much, but she couldn't help it.

"Can you blame me?" Lucas said, taking little steps to wrap his arms around Maya's torso.

Maya leaned in closer, finally being able to be with Lucas. She had to admit, she really did consider telling Riley sometimes. It would be a nice change to actually be able to sit there with everybody, including Riley, and hold hands. Her lips felt the soft pressure of Lucas's lips against them and Maya couldn't help but think of how much she missed it, even though she had kissed him just a few hours earlier. It was like a strong rush of ecstasy running through her. Her whole body felt numb, except her lips; those were working just fine against his.

Lucas pulled apart, keeping his forehead against Maya's. "We should probably get down there before Riley gets suspicious," he breathed out.

Maya wanted to do just the opposite. Instead, she wanted nothing more than to bring her lips to her boyfriend's again and stay there for hours. She didn't want to separate from his arms and walk downstairs with just a secret look to say goodbye before parting ways. Her eyes moved down to in between their bodies, where their hands were busy interlinking.

"Alright," she forced out.

The two lifted their bags off of the bed they had placed them on when they had been left alone and joined hands. Maya squeezed the warm, strong hand holding hers, not wanting to let go any time soon. Walking into the living room, Maya realized she actually did want to grab a sweater from Riley's room.

"Hey I think I'm actually going to borrow a sweater from Riley. I'll be right back," she spoke quickly, leaving Lucas standing in the living room.

Lucas was fine standing by himself in the Matthew's living room. It's not like Maya would take too long. He was in the middle of zipping up his own hoodie when he heard the door to the apartment swing open. Looking up, he saw no other than Topanga Matthews come through the door, briefcase in one hand and a brown grocery bag in the other. The woman jumped a little bit when she brought her eyes up to the teenager since she didn't expect him to be standing there, especially with no Riley in sight. But she quickly changed her surprised gasp to a smile.

"Hi Lucas," she smiled, setting her briefcase down on the table next to the door. "I saw Riley downstairs. Why are you up here?"

"I'm just waiting for Maya. She's grabbing a sweater from Riley's room," Lucas explained. Topanga just smiled and made her way with the grocery bag towards the kitchen.

It didn't take long for a blonde girl to walk, pushing her arms into a blue sweater, into the kitchen. She walked right past the kitchen, too busy settling her sweater to notice her best friend's mom standing in the kitchen reading her grocery receipt quietly. Maya walked right up to Lucas and didn't give Lucas any time to point out Topanga's presence before speaking.

"You ready babe?" she asked, standing on her tip-toes to press a small kiss to Lucas's cheek. Maya was surprised to see Lucas's wide, stunned eyes when she pulled away from the kiss. "What?" she wondered.

Green eyes moved up, pointing Maya in the direction of a now stunned Topanga standing in the kitchen looking right at the teens. Maya's smile turned downward. Her gaze shifted quickly back to Lucas who was running his hand awkwardly against the back of his neck. No one made any sounds or moves. Maya wanted to run. Lucas wanted to run. Topanga didn't know what to do. She decided that she wanted answers.

"Riley didn't tell me you two were dating. So I'm going to take a guess and say she doesn't know?" Topanga asked with a suspicious tone.

"I- uh, we-" Maya stuttered. She looked up at Lucas, her blue eyes swimming in confusion. She was begging for help.

"I-I have to get to practice," he said instead.

"Lucas-" Maya started with anger in her voice.

"I'll call you tonight," Lucas rushed.

There was no time to say anything else before Maya watched Lucas hustle out the door of the apartment. Disbelief took over her, her mouth hanging open at what had just happened. She almost forgot completely that Topanga was across the room waiting for an explanation of her own, even though Maya desperately wanted to chase after Lucas and get an explanation for what he just did.

"Maya?"

The blonde turned around to see Topanga now right behind her. Her eyes weren't angry or accusing like Maya though they would be right now. They were understanding. Topanga herself wanted to be understanding. She wanted to hear Maya out and be empathetic towards whatever situation Maya was in right now, even if she was technically lying to her daughter. The woman motioned to the couch, silently telling Maya to sit down. Maya did, somehow being washed in the same wave of comfort that almost always took over when she had a heart-to-heart with Topanga.

"What's going on with you and Lucas?" she asked.

Maya took a deep breathe. Honestly, she was getting so tired of explaining what was happening with her and Lucas. "Me and Lucas have been dating for the past month now," she admitted. She had beat around the bush with Zay, and then with Farkle. She didn't want to now. Topanga's facial expression didn't change. Maya wondered in her head if the woman was even surprised. If she was, she didn't show it.

"Maya honey, I'm not upset," she told her. Her hand reached up to stroke the blonde girl's hair. Maya knew the worried expression on her own face must have given it away how concerned she was that Topanga would somehow think less of her. "But why haven't you told Riley?"

"Lucas is Riley's ex. We've been down this road before and it didn't work out very well last time. I just don't want to hurt her," Maya explained.

"You know Riley won't be upset."

"Yeah you and everybody else is trying to tell me that," Maya laughed humorlessly.

Topanga suddenly looked very confused. "Who else knows about this?" she asked.

"Just Zay and Farkle. But trust me, them finding out was just as much a mistake as you finding out," Maya sighed.

"Honey I'm not going to tell you what to do. You're relationship with Lucas is none of my business. But I know Riley, believe it or not maybe a little better than you do," she chuckled with Maya joining in half-heartedly, "and Riley isn't going to be upset with you. The only reason she would be upset with you is if she finds out that you and Lucas and the rest of your group kept this from her for so long," she finished.

Truth be told, Maya hadn't thought of it like that before. It was yet another thing to consider when thinking of when to tell Riley. She knew it was crunch time and Riley would have to find out sooner or later. Later sounded a lot worse when thinking about when she could just kiss Lucas without worrying who was seeing. Maya let out a deep sigh and looked up at Topanga.

"Thank you for being so understanding," she commented. Topanga's arms suddenly wrapped around her and comforted her in a warmth.

The sound of the door swinging open broke the moment between the two women. "Maya come on! What's going on?" Riley's voice rang out. Maya broke from the hug and looked up.

"Sorry honey, Maya just needed to talk about something. But it's fine now," Topanga covered. The blonde smiled over and Topanga shot back a knowing look. Maya thought to herself on the couch even after Topanga got up and moved back to the kitchen. If Riley could just be as understanding as her mom, and Maya knew she could, then maybe telling her wouldn't be as bad as she was imagining it to be.

 **A/N: How did you like it? Not my favorite part of this series but the next one is Cory and that one I'm actually pretty pumped for lol idk what the next one-shot will be though, still kind of thinking on that one. I have some ideas and prompts but I'm not sure which one I have the inspiration to write right now….**

 **But I hope you still enjoyed this! I promise I'll try really hard to get the next one up soon! Love you guys**


	11. Separation Anxiety

**A/N: Just a crazy random update because I feel like it haven't put up a new one-shot in like 6 years!**

 _Timeline: Senior year of high school._

 _Summary: The gang is graduating and moving in separate directions. How hard will it be for Lucas and Maya?_

Separation Anxiety

They had done it. They had graduated high school. Just hours ago, the whole gang each walked across the stage and were handed their high school diplomas. It had been four years in the making, even more if you counted the school years before high school, but they had done it. And even better, they had done it together.

Still dawned in their graduation gowns, the five teenagers sat on the roof of Riley's building. Wanting to keep the night going after the grad party their families had thrown for them, they decided to set up a little bonfire. Folding chairs were set out around the fire pit as the bright light flickered against their faces. Illuminated were the big smiles, alive with laughter. Zay sat in his chair holding his marshmallow over the fire carefully. Riley sat close to Farkle, their fingers playing with each other's. Those two weren't dating, but god everyone knew they should be. They weren't heading off to the same school, but they would be in the same state. Everyone knew they would get together during their alone time together at school. It was only a matter of time.

Across from them, two blondes sat entangled in each other. Maya's small body was positioned on top of Lucas's lap, her head laying on his shoulder. She was enjoying the warmth of the fire on her face and the sensation of her boyfriend's thumb stroking her lower back where his hand laid. Both felt on top of the world. They had just graduated from high school, they got to be together all summer, and they were spending tonight with their best friends. Nothing could bring them down.

"Can you believe in just 3 months, we'll all be heading off in our own directions?" Riley burst, excitement all over her face.

That suddenly brought Lucas and Maya down. They weren't as lucky as Farkle and Riley were to be going to school near each other. In fact they would actually be pretty far from each other. Lucas would be on a plane back to Texas with his football scholarship the first weekend of September, then just a week after Maya would be leaving to go to California to study art. Outwardly, the two couldn't be happier for each other. And they truly were happy. Each knew how hard the other had worked to be able to go where they were going to do the things they both loved. But they loved each other too, and they wished they could have the other by their side while at college.

"I'm going to miss you guys so much," Lucas commented, looking around at his friends. Maya felt a little pressure apply to her torso as Lucas's arm pulled her closer. Her eyes avoided turning to her boyfriend and instead just let them hover over her other friends.

"At least we'll be near each other," Farkle said to Riley.

She's not sure when it happened, but Maya's eyes suddenly landed on Lucas. All the other voices around her blended into one, long muffled sound. Every emotion she had buried deep down since Lucas told he was offered a scholarship for school in Texas came bubbling up to the surface. Quickly, she made her way off of the lap she had previously sat on. The rest of the group looked at her in worry as she scurried over to the ledge without a word. Away from the fire, the cool air hit the blonde's face and she was able to suck her tears back up.

Lucas knew what was wrong. It was the same thing that was wrong with him. "I'll be right back," he told the rest of the group. Maya didn't even notice her boyfriend come over and stand next to her, leaning on the ledge like she did. "Should I even ask if you're ok?"

A single sniffle came out of Maya before her sad voice answered. "Nothing's wrong Huckleberry," she tried to smile.

"Maya I know you. And I know that's a lie," Lucas replied carefully.

"It's too hard," Maya said softly.

Lucas's comforting hand landed on the smaller blonde's shoulder. "Maya I know it's hard. Trust me, I feel it too. But it's just 4 years."

"Lucas! 4 years! Are you seriously saying you don't think 4 years is a long time?" Maya cried, wiping a tear away from her blue eyes.

"I'm just trying to make you feel better!"

"Then don't! Just tell me the truth because it's not just 4 years Lucas!" Maya cried more.

Lucas looked at the crying girl. He more than anything wanted to say something that would make her feel better, comfort her. He hated to see her cry. Looking at the water filling up her blue eyes, he was reminded of when he secretly caught Maya crying to Riley after Lucas told her he was thinking of going to Texas for college. He had all but made the decision to not go after seeing how upset Maya was. But Riley talked him out of it, saying how much Maya would blame herself if he turned down the scholarship she knew Lucas had worked so hard for. And now here she was right in front of him, crying, and Lucas couldn't think of anything that would relieve her because he was feeling the same distraught feeling.

"You want to know the truth? I'm terrified," he admitted. "You have been with me as my friend for 6 years and as the best girlfriend in the world for 2 years. I'm going to be in a whole new school without you to talk to every day. How am I supposed to play my best at the football games, the entire reason I got into the school, when you aren't in the stands cheering me on? You've come to every game I've played for the past 3 years Maya, you don't know what that has meant to me. And my anger issues…" Lucas trailed off.

Maya's head shook back and forth. "Lucas no! You've gotten so much better with the anger thing!" Maya insisted.

"Yeah because I've had you! I never want my anger to make me do something that would make you regret being my girlfriend. And Texas is where my anger issues started. What am going to do without you there for 4 years?" Lucas whined, feeling the ease of Maya's fingers rustling through his hair.

"You're going to be the Lucas I know you are. Mr. Moral Compass," Maya smiled. Lucas let out a little laugh at the old nickname that he hadn't been called in a while. "But seriously 4 years is a really long time."

Lucas just sighed, running the length of Maya's golden hair in between his fingers. "I know. But we can get through it."

"How do you know?"

"Because while I'm in Texas, I'm going to think about you in California and I'll think about all the amazing art you're making and all the amazing things you're doing. And I'm going to be so proud of you. That will help make the time and distance a little bit easier," Lucas praised. Little did he know, he was actually only making it harder for Maya to leave and let him leave. He was too amazing for her to deserve. But of course, he thought the same thing about her.

"And we have holidays," Maya added happily. "And summer breaks."

"And we have 3 months ahead of us to spend together." A smile on Lucas's face, an honest smile that told Maya he really believed they would make it, even with all this time and distance standing in their way.

The small blonde's body eased from its earlier tension a little bit when two strong arms wrapped around her tight. She was pulled into Lucas's chest. Her head looked up to see a pair of green eyes looking right her own blue irises. She felt safe. Then she remembered that she would somehow have to make it through 4 years without looking into those eyes and feeling as calm and serene as she did now.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you Shortstack," Lucas replied without even a millisecond of hesitation. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, then rested his chin comfortably on top of her head. "And I will love you even more 4 years from now."

With closed eyes, Maya settled into the arms of her boyfriend. From now on she felt like she had to really feel every moment the two of them had. It was like she was storing moments, storing feelings. She needed enough to get her through 4 years in California without her Huckleberry cowboy.

"You promise?" Maya asked.

Again, not a second separated Maya's question from Lucas's answer. "I promise."

 **A/N: This was so random and quick but I really wanted to update this story tonight! I should have gone to bed an hour ago and I have both jobs tomorrow… but I actually like how this turned out.**

 **Did you guys like it? Review and let me know how you liked this one-shot and if you would like to see a sequel set up either after the 4 years or after 2 years!**


	12. 24 Hours

**A/N: Ok next one-shot! This is such a random prompt that I had in my mind but I thought it would be a nice change to see Maya be protective/worried about Lucas rather than the other way around. Enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Early/Mid 20s._

 _Summary: Lucas isn't the only one who would anything to protect the other person in this relationship._

24 Hours

Maya ran down the halls of the hospital like a mad woman. Her wild blonde hair jumped around with each long, sprinted step. Not long ago, she answered a call from Zay while she was the gallery. She wasn't even going to answer. She was busy unpacking pieces that had been sent over for an exhibit she would be hosting the next week. The phone had already rung 3 times with Zay's name on the screen each time; so Maya figured it must be important. And she was right. Lucas had gotten hit straight in the head with a fast flying baseball while he was coaching the league team he coached with Zay. Maya hung up the phone, jumping in a cap towards the hospital before even hearing if he was ok. The front desk lady was a little too slow for Maya, taking what seemed like forever to look up what room Lucas was in. Now she was sprinting down the hall until she came across the door with _641_ on it.

She threw the door open with all the strength she had, which wasn't much at this point since she had just ran up 6 flights of stairs. "Lucas!" she gasped when she walked in and saw Lucas sitting on the side of the hospital bed. He had a large white bandage covering the entire left side of his forehead, which she guessed is where the baseball hit him.

"Maya what are you doing here?" Lucas asked. "How did you even know I was here?"

Maya stepped into the room and over to Lucas. "Zay called me. Are you ok?" she asked, nervously observing his head where the bandage was.

"Why did you call her?" Lucas asked Zay, ignoring Maya and her concerned question.

"She's your fiancé," Zay answered plainly. Maya's eyes squinted, suddenly confused on why Lucas seemed upset that she was called.

"Why didn't you want to tell me?" she asked her fiancé.

Lucas's glaring eyes turned away from Zay, who didn't look any less confused than Maya did. They turned soft as they landed on Maya's blue eyes. "I just didn't want to worry you. It's not a big deal," he tried to convince her.

The door to the room suddenly opened and a tall, handsome man in a long white coat walked in. His eyes hovered over a chart in his hands as he spoke. "Mr. Friar you seem to have quite a concussion," he announced, not yet seeing that Maya had joined the two boys.

Maya's eyes widened to almost double their normal size at the word 'concussion.' Her whole body swung around to face Lucas. His hand dragged down his face in frustration now that his idea for it not being a big deal was ruined.

"A concussion Lucas?!"

"Good luck talking your way out of this one," Zay chuckled. This did nothing but receive a glare from both blondes. Zay cleared his throat and stopped his laughter, although a smile could be seen concealed on his face. "I'll just wait outside." He excused himself from the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

At this point, the doctor had looked up from his chart and noticed a nervous Maya standing next to the bed that Lucas sat on. "Who's this pretty lady?" he smiled.

"This is my fiancé Maya," Lucas introduced.

"Hi Maya! I'm Doctor Collins. I've been taking care of Lucas here."

Maya smiled to be polite and shook the hand that Dr. Collins held out. But then her eyes narrowed to her fiance's injured head, then moved to the chart that was being held in the doctor's hand. "What's wrong with him? Is he alright?" she asked, not even bothering to conceal the worry in her voice.

"Well he got hit pretty hard. Luckily there doesn't seem to be any brain damage and I would classify this as more of a mild concussion," Dr. Collins explained.

"See Shortstack, _mild_ concussion," Lucas spoke to her. She just ignored the comment, only directing a side-eye to him. It didn't really matter to her what word was put in front of _concussion_ , as long as _concussion_ was there, she was concerned.

"So he's going to be ok?" Maya asked.

The doctor was quiet while he wrote some things on the chart with squinted eyes. "Well," he started, looking up at her finally, "I believe so, but I'm going to have to advise keeping the brain active right now. No sleep. 24 hours."

"But I thought you said it was a mild concussion?" Lucas spoke.

"It is. But that doesn't mean we should take any risks right?" Both blondes slowly nodded their heads. "If the brain gets inactive during the state of a concussion, you could fall into a coma," Dr. Collins informed in a serious tone.

Lucas just nodded while Maya fell into a quiet shock. His green eyes trailed up to his fiancé to see her eyes scanning the floor aimlessly as she tried to process the possibility of a coma. "We understand," Lucas answered for both of them.

"I don't see any danger in sending you home but stay awake. If you see any signs of more severe head trauma, give me a call immediately. I'll have you back in here tomorrow evening to rerun a couple tests and make sure you brain activity is normal alright?"

Maya still hadn't shown any signs of hearing what the doctor had said. Lucas reached up to stroke her back with his head. Her head jerked up at the movement and looked at the doctor. "Thanks Dr. Collins," she practically whispered. The doctor left the room to get Lucas's discharge papers ready. Lucas didn't say a word but his eyes remained on a visible scared Maya.

"Maya please don't be worried," he begged, his hand still on her back gently. He hated seeing her so distraught. His brain raced to think of a way to comfort her, but he came up with nothing. The words 'concussion' and 'coma' were being thrown around and there was no coming back from that. Even Lucas himself was a little freaked out, but he couldn't show that; not with Maya already so scared.

Maya tore away from the touch of Lucas's hand. Her body swung around to look at her injured fiancé. Her blue eyes were full of hurt, and even some anger than Lucas was a little embarrassed to say scared him. "A coma Lucas! You could go into a coma and you're telling me not to be worried! Are you kidding me?" she yelled. Maya suddenly crossed her arm weak over her chest. "Why didn't you want Zay to call me?"

The hurt in her voice was not something that could be missed. She was just within reach for Lucas to reach his arm over and pull her into him. Her tiny frame stood in between his legs as he sat firmly on the edge of his bed.

"I just didn't want to worry you."

"Well I'm worried Lucas!" she bellowed. The fact that she kept calling him 'Lucas' meant this was serious. She tended to use their signature nicknames unless she was angry. "Lucas we are getting married. That means we are together for everything, not just the happy stuff alright?"

"I'm sorry," Lucas whispered.

The smaller blonde ran her fingers through her hair, running her hand down her face afterwards. "You know we don't have to talk about it right now. We're going to have tons of time to talk about it…when you're staying awake for the next 24 hours," she smirked sarcastically.

…..

"Are you sure you don't want me to stick around and help?" Zay asked Maya as they stood at the doorway of Maya and Lucas's apartment. Lucas had already gone inside, but Zay needed a second with Maya. Maya shook her head and looked inside the slightly open door to see Lucas sitting on the couch. "You know he loves you Maya. He just didn't want to freak you out if it was nothing."

Maya rolled her eyes. It was just like Zay to protect Lucas in this situation. "Well it is something, Zay," she argued back.

"He didn't know that when we got to the hospital."

Maya understood the situation. She really did. But she just wanted to be angry for a while. "I got him Zay. You can go home. Plus you only live 3 buildings down the street, if I need you I can just shout out the window and you'll hear me," Maya laughed.

Zay disappeared down the hallway just a minute after hugging Maya goodbye. Instead of going back into the apartment right away, Maya stood just outside the door, staring in at Lucas. Only the back of his head was visible to her from this angle, but she didn't want him seeing the emotion she's sure was present on her face. Today she had come so close to losing the love of her life. Stepping into the apartment finally, her eyes didn't leave the mess of blonde hair that sat on top of her fiancé's head. He was absorbed in what was on the TV, but he turned his head around to look at Maya when he heard the door shut. Registering her sad eyes that were glued to him, he got up from his spot on the couch.

"You ok babe?" he asked.

Maya's head shook, snapping back into reality. "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine," she promises. Her eyes moved up slightly from the sweet, green eyes she loved to the bandage on Lucas's forehead. "You have to stay awake. So I'm going to go get you a soda. And make some coffee. And maybe just bring you a bowl of sugar," she smiled. Her smile quickly turned into a sigh as she carried herself into the kitchen.

Lucas was quick to follow her into the room. His eyes hovered on her without a word while she got the coffee maker started. "Maya come on you're not ok."

Those blue eyes never turned to face him. But if they had, Lucas would've seen the sadness in them. Maya's fingers fiddled with the buttons on the coffee maker until she finally just settled them down on the counter. "I don't how to be ok right now," she whispered in a voice that Lucas could just barely hear.

His hand reached around her to grab her tiny, shaking hand, spinning her around to look at him. "Maya I'm ok. But I know how you feel," Lucas started.

"How would you know how I feel right now?"

"Do you remember when you were 19 and you and Riley got into that car accident while driving to MIT to see Farkle?" Lucas asked. Maya thought for a moment. Of course she remembered, but that didn't seem to compare to right now, now when Lucas could fall into a freaking coma.

"Lucas that wasn't that bad," she said with a faint smile.

"Maya you had to be in the hospital for 3 days and you lost a lot of blood," Lucas reminded her. Maya shrugged her shoulders, remembering the accident. It did suck being in the hospital and she had to have a mild surgery. But she hid a tiny smile on her face when she also remembered the fact that Lucas had sat by her hospital bed the entire time she was there. "And I just remember my brain kept playing on a loop how bad it _could've_ been. I couldn't get it out of my head, no matter how many times you said you were ok, that I could've lost you. It drove me crazy."

Never did Maya hear this from Lucas. He was the one reassuring her while she was in the hospital, acting casual like she was fine. "You've never told me that before," Maya spoke.

"I just wanted to be strong for you. Why do you think I didn't leave your side for like a week after?" Lucas laughed.

"I thought you were just trying to be annoying," Maya laughed back.

The blonde boy wrapped his arms around his fiancé, pulling her into his chest. "Look I know you're freaking out about could've happened to me, but I promise you I'm fine. I'm right here, with you. And I'm not going anywhere. All I have to do is now fall asleep for 24 hours," Lucas said, finishing his words with a kiss to Maya's forehead.

Maya looked up, her blue eyes wandering up to Lucas's green ones. She tried her best to let his words sink in. _He was fine._ It seemed to process, as long as she ignored the bandage that lay just above Lucas's eyes on his forehead.

"Why do you say that like it's the easiest thing in the world?" she laughed.

"I don't know. But don't worry," he smiled. "I just have to find some way to distract myself." Secretly, he was concerned about staying up that long. He wouldn't say that out loud though, not to Maya. But 24 hours was a long time and he hadn't stayed up that long since his college days when he had to balance work with studying for his finals. That was a couple years ago. And he was already feeling tired if he was honest.

Maya could see it in his eyes that he was already a little sleepy. She didn't want to leave him alone. Now she understands why Lucas hovered over her for a week straight after she was out of the hospital. "Well you don't have to do it alone," she smiled. A little crinkle appeared in Lucas's forehead, confused from the statement his fiancé just made. "I'm staying up with you Huckleberry."

"You don't have to do that."

"It's not like I'll be able to sleep anyway. You take care of me, I take care of you. That's what this means," she said, holding up her left hand with her engagement ring on it.

Lucas grabbed the hand she held, balled it into his own hand, and kissed it. Lucky didn't even describe how he felt. Sure, his head hurt pretty badly and he was terrified that a tiny lapse of falling asleep, even for a minute, could put him in a coma. But Maya was here with him, ready to spend the next 24 hours awake with him.

…..

Lucas sat on the couch, his arm around Maya and his eyes on the TV. He had been awake a little more than 23 hours and his eyes were burning, pink in color. Maya's head was on his chest with her eyes closed tight. She had fallen asleep just a couple hours before. Lucas had noticed her eyes fluttering for a while and every so often she would take in a deep breath in an effort to stay awake. He didn't stop her from falling asleep. She had already been up with him for so long, playing games, watching movies, going out multiple times to get coffee from the shop down the street from their apartment until it closed at 11 the night before. He wanted her to be able to sleep. So he let her eyes close finally and just continued to twirl strands of her hair in his fingers.

Zay had texted him periodically to check on him and make sure he was still awake. Especially after Lucas let him know Maya had fallen asleep. Zay laughed, surprised that Maya had made it as long as she did. Sleep was one of the blonde's favorite activities. _'She must really love you man,'_ Zay told Lucas in the early hours of the morning.

Suddenly, while Lucas was flipping through the options for Netflix movies, she felt the girl in his arms stir. Her head lifted quickly, probably just noticing that she had ever fallen asleep.

"Oh my god, Lucas I'm sorry I didn't mean to fall asleep," she apologized, rubbing her still tired eyes.

"It's ok Shortstack," Lucas replied. Sleepiness was really hitting him and his words seemed to weigh him down a bit.

Maya's eyes looked up into his with a worried look. "You didn't fall asleep did you?"

Even as weak as he felt, Lucas got a little chuckle out at his Maya being so worried about him. "Considering I'm talking to you right now, no I didn't fall asleep. And even if I did, the whole coma thing must not have happened," he teased.

"Ha ha. You're very funny."

She sat up in her seat, settling in next to Lucas. Looking over at her, Lucas suddenly felt his body fill with love for the tiny girl. "Thank you for staying up with me," he whispered, too tired to get his voice much higher. A kiss was pressed to his lips from his fiancé. She laid down, her head on Lucas's lap. Repositioning herself, she laid on her back and reached up to web her fingers with Lucas's.

"We have to call Dr. Collins so you can go and get your tests done," she reminded. Just as Maya was about to lift herself off the couch, Lucas tugged her hand to pull her back down.

"Just lay here with me a little longer?"

Maya considered it. Nothing usually beat laying around with Lucas. He was always the best cuddle partner. But right now, she needed to make sure he was ok. Especially after seeing the droopy look in his eyes. "You know the quicker we call Dr. Collins and get you checked, the quicker we can crawl into bed and sleep," she smiled. It only took Lucas a second to let that sink into his brain.

"Yeah go ahead and call Dr. Collins."

 **A/N: Ok so was that cute? Not sure how I feel about how it turned out. I think I like it, but what do you guys think?**

 **Make sure to review! And if you have any requests or suggestions or prompts for future one-shots, I am taking them! Most of the one-shot ideas I'm coming up with lately, I feel like would be better as multi-chapters lol so now I have like 1,521,330,741 multi-chapter ideas but I'm running low on one-shot ideas lol so help me out!**

 **Thanks guys! Love my readers always!:)**


	13. We Do This Together

**A/N: Finally a new one shot! Don't hate me for taking so long to get one up. This story is a little bit less Lucaya and a little more core5, but still good Lucaya. Enjoy!**

 **Ps. This one-shot takes place in the same universe as the one-shot 'Friar Family of Five.' So be aware of that!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Late 20s; Kids: Caroline is 5, Lilly is 3, Noah is 1._

 _Summary: Auntie Riley gives birth to her little man so of course the Friars must be present._

We Do This Together

It was the middle of the night when Maya's cell phone rang. Lucas didn't seem to hear it. It must have been due to him being up all night the past couple nights with a sick Caroline. The baby's sickness from the month before had made its way through the Friar home. Caroline was the last to catch it. She was basically Maya's twin, especially when she was sick. She demanded attention and someone to take care of her.

Since Caroline was pretty much the biggest daddy's girl Maya had ever seen, she wasn't very surprised when the 5 year old insisted it be Lucas who took care of her. She wasn't offended. Truthfully, Maya had had enough taking care of sick kids for a while since Lilly and Noah both clung to her when they caught whatever it was going through the house.

Once the chiming tone went off through the night, Maya climbed her way out of Lucas's arms as they were wrapped around her form. Not even bothering to look at who was calling her at 3 in the morning, she put the phone to her ear, eyes still half closed.

"Hello?" she mumbled into the speaker. "What!?" she suddenly burst.

Lucas's body shot up at the sudden yelling his wife was doing. He looked up surprised to see her excited face. Her eyes were wide awake and shining.

"We're on our way right now!" Maya chirped. Without even giving Lucas an explanation, she jumped up from the bed and ran over to the closet.

"Maya what is going on?" Lucas asked, rubbing his tired eyes.

Maya looked up at her husband from where she stood in front of the closet, trying to find jeans to put on. "Riley's in labor!" she smiled. It all finally made sense to Lucas. Riley was about a week to her due date, but he should've known she would give birth early. Being Riley's child, it made sense that even the baby was too excited to wait the full time. Lucas followed in Maya's lead by crawling out of bed, although a lot slower than Maya did, and walking over to her. He joined the search to find clothes.

Maya had already slid a pair of jeans on, as well as a comfy pair of sneakers. To save time, she opted to leave on the oversized shirt she had stolen from her husband's side of the t-shirt drawer to sleep in. Lucas was still getting dressed, releasing little yawns every so often, when Maya left the apartment to go knock on their neighbor's door. With Caroline being sick and Noah and Lilly sleeping peacefully in their rooms, Maya didn't want to wake them, especially knowing that Riley might not actually give birth for a while. Mrs. Leonard was a kind old woman. She loved kids, she had 7 of her own. But they were all grown up and living their own lives. Mrs. Leonard loved the little Friar children like they were her own. Whenever she saw them in the hall, she would greet them with a hug and a cookie, because Mrs. Leonard was the kind of woman who _always_ had the most delicious cookies in her kitchen. Even though Lucas and Maya had no shortage of babysitters, between Riley and Farkle, both of the blondes parents, and even Zay who loved hanging out with the little rugrats, it was nice to have Mrs. Leonard just next door who could always watch them.

The blonde was a little impatient waiting for the woman to answer her door. She had to keep reminding herself while waiting that it was past 3AM and Mrs. Leonard was most definitely not awake. When the door finally opened, Maya smiled and explained quickly that she had no intention of missing the birth of her first god-son. The kind woman smiled and agreed to sleep at the Friar apartment and keep an eye on the kids until Lucas and Maya came back to pick them up in the morning.

"Just let me tuck the kids in," Maya told Lucas as he greeted and thanked Mrs. Leonard when the two walked back into the apartment.

Maya made her way from room to room, pulling the covers over each of her children and kissing the tops of their heads. While sitting on the edge of Lilly's bed, the little girl opened her eyes.

"Mommy what are you doing?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

"Me and daddy have to go help Auntie Riley with something," Maya whispered. Her fingers continuously pushed little wispy strands of blonde hair behind her daughter's ear.

"With what?" Lilly's curious stage was never-ending. She questioned everything, all the time. She basically wouldn't drop it until she got an answer to her question so Maya, who didn't want to spend more time not being by Riley's side, decided to just tell her daughter the truth.

"Auntie Riley's baby is going to come out of her tummy tonight," Maya smiled. Mirroring Maya's actions when she got the call about Riley, Lilly jumped up from her spot. Her tiny hands clapped together as she jumped up and down on her bed.

Maya laughed seeing her daughter so excited. "I want to go help Auntie Riley too! Please mommy!" Lilly begged.

Maya's hands pressed to Lilly's cheeks, settling her down from her cheering. "Ok, ok we don't want to wake up your brother and sister," she whispered. Lilly nodded her head but continued to quietly beg her mother to go along. "Alright you can go. But we have to get your shoes on quickly ok?"

Lilly leaped off the bed to find shoes. She didn't know how to tie shoe laces yet so Maya had to do it for her. Maya pulled a jacket out of Lilly's closet and slipped it on over Lilly's pajamas. Picking the little girl up in her arms, she walked out to the living room to meet Lucas. He looked confused when he saw his wife carrying their 3 year old in her arms.

"She wanted to come really badly," Maya explained before Lucas had a chance to ask. He didn't bother arguing. He just thanked Mrs. Leonard once more and then followed Maya out, who was already heading out the door and into the hallway.

The chilly night air hit them as soon as they left the apartment building. Maya pulled Lilly into her chest to shield her from the cold and Lucas wrapped his arm around Maya to shield her. The three blondes piled into a cab with Maya anxiously telling the driver to 'step on it.'

It seemed like much to long before they all filed into a hospital room with Riley in the bed, holding Farkle's hand as he stood next to her.

"Hi Peaches!" Riley beamed seeing the family walk into the room. She opened her arms for a hug, which Maya happily gave her. Lilly leaped out of Maya's arms to wrap her own arms around her auntie's neck. Maya pulled a chair over from the side of the room and dragged it to the side of the bed. She settled in and pulled Lilly of the bed and into her lap, pulling the little girl's jacket off.

"How you doing Riles?" Lucas asked.

Riley let out a long, exaggerated groan as she rubbed the large bump that was her tummy. "This hurts so much! Peaches I don't know how you did this 3 times. You are some kind of superhero!" she whined.

Maya laughed, but Lucas looked over at her. It wasn't uncommon for him to think this about his wife. Every day she took care of him and the kids and her gallery. He always wondered how she did it all. He wonders how she even pushed out their 3 little babies. Maya herself was so tiny, he had no idea how a whole other person fit inside of her for 9 months. But she did it. His kickass, superhero of a wife did it. He caught himself grinning adoringly at her and turned away, focusing on Riley. Now that Riley had Maya by her bedside, Farkle decided it was ok for him to finally take a seat. There was a small couch on the side of the room. Farkle sat on one end of it, allowing Lucas to sit on the other side. Maya looked up at Farkle to see his face holding a certain expression. Immediately she recognized it as the same concerned expression Lucas held on his face during the birth of each of their children.

"Are you ok Auntie Riley?" Lilly asked Riley after observing the pained look on her face.

Riley tried her best to smile for the toddler as she shifted her body, trying to find a comfortable position to lay in. Riley was slowly coming to terms with the fact that a comfortable position wasn't going to be possible. "Yeah Lilly. I'm fine. The baby just makes me a little uncomfortable that's all," she grinned.

"When will the baby come out?"

"Sometime soon baby girl. But we don't know for sure. We just have to wait," Maya explained, redoing the ponytail that was in her daughter's hair. Once the new ponytail was secured, Lilly turned to her mom.

"Mommy how will the baby get out of Auntie Riley?" she asked.

Riley found some minor solace in giggling at the question. Maya was squirming in her seat and Riley knew she was trying to come up with an answer that would satisfy the child, without giving away the actual answer. "Why don't you go ask daddy that question," she smiled. The little girl hopped off Maya's lap and ran over to her daddy, eager to get an answer to her important question. Maya turned her eyes back over to her best friend. "Seriously honey how are you doing?"

"I feel like I'm being torn in half," Riley cried.

"Yeah sounds about right," Maya grinned.

The sound of Farkle laughing suddenly shot through the room and the two girls looked up to see Lucas looking at his daughter shocked. Farkle was trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard. "Did you tell her to ask me that?" he looked up at his wife.

"Hey Lilly, why don't you, your daddy, and your Uncle Farkle go get some ice chips for Auntie Riley?" Maya suggested. She was hoping this mission would distract the little girl from her previous question, at least until her or Lucas could think of a suitable answer.

"What are ice chips?" Lilly questioned, seeming to be at least momentarily distracted.

"They're basically ice cubes," Lucas told her.

A confused look made its way onto Lilly's face. "Why would she want ice cubes?"

"They're the only thing I can eat while I have the baby," Riley answered.

The adults watched as Lilly took in the answer and thought for a moment. "Ok," she finally gave in. She had more questions. But right now she just wanted to help her Auntie Riley. Ice cubes didn't sound very exciting, especially to eat, but if that's what she wanted, Lilly was determined to get them.

"Let's go!" Lucas cheered, picking the girl up and swinging over his head to sit her on his shoulders. Maya smiled to herself as she heard her daughter giggle. Riley smiled too, then looked at her own husband. In just hours, Riley would get to watch Farkle be a dad. After she had Caroline, Maya told Riley that watching Lucas be a dad to their child made her fall even more in love with him. Riley didn't think it was possible for Maya to love Lucas even more than she already did. Maya agreed. But it happened. And Riley couldn't wait to see how much more in love with Farkle she could be.

"Come on Uncle Farkle!" Lilly cheered, placing her little palms on her dad's forehead to hold on.

"Yeah come on Uncle Farkle!" Lucas teased. Farkle turned to look at Riley. She just nodded, telling him it was ok for him to leave the room. Especially if it was to get her ice chips because, god, she wanted some. The two boys left the room with Lilly in search.

Leaving the room, the boys and Lilly wandered down the hall to the place Farkle was told he could get ice chips whenever Riley wanted some. Lucas lifted Lilly off his shoulders and set her down in front of the ice machine. After lifting a small bowl off the table next to the machine, he handed it to Lilly.

"You want to press the button to get the ice chips?" he asked her. The little girl nodded excitedly. He let Lilly push the button and fill up the bowl. In the meantime, he looked up at Farkle. "How are you handling it in there?"

The genius looked confused at the question. He took a second to notice that Lilly was done filling the bowl. He smiled at the toddler and picked her up in his arms as she held the bowl proudly in her little hands. "What do you mean?" he asked Lucas.

"Farkle, Maya has given birth 3 times. If anyone knows how hard it is to watch your wife be in that much pain, it's me," Lucas sighed.

"How did you do it? When Maya was in labor?"

"It's hard. I love Maya more than anybody else in the world. And watching her be in so much pain, knowing I can't do anything about it, is the shittiest feeling. It doesn't get any easier," Lucas told him honestly. "But just comfort her. No one knows how to comfort Riley like you do."

"What did you do for Maya?" Farkle asked. They started walking back to the room, realizing they had to give Riley her ice chips.

A small grin appeared on Lucas's face. "Maya likes it when I rub her back. So when she was in labor, she would lay on her side and I would just run my hand along her back. Try to make her laugh. She says I'm always pretty good at making her laugh," Lucas smiled.

They walked into the hospital room to see Riley's hand being held by Maya and the doctor at the end of the bed. Lucas quickly threw his hand over Lilly's eyes, not wanting his 3 year old to see what the doctor was checking. He didn't realize he didn't want to see that either until Farkle's hand was thrown over his eyes.

"Good news!" the doctor started, looking up to see the boys. "She's only got a couple centimeters to go before she's fully dilated and ready to push. It should only be another couple of hours," she smiled.

"No fair! Even my shortest labor was like 12 hours! You've literally been here for an hour," Maya complained. Maya didn't have much luck in the short labor department. All 3 of her kids took their sweet time and she took forever to be ready to push. Lucas laughed. He pressed a kiss to his wife's head before setting Lilly down on the end of Riley's bed so she could hand her auntie the ice chip bowl.

A few hours later, Riley still hadn't had her little baby boy. Lilly was fast asleep on the couch on the side of the room. Lucas was sitting in the chair next to the bed with his wife in his lap. Maya didn't want to close her eyes and miss anything, but Lucas had let his eyes close a couple hours ago. Maya was just letting her fingers fumble through her husband's messy hair, her head laying on his shoulder. Farkle sat on the edge of Riley's bed, doing exactly what Lucas told him to do. Maya was keeping herself busy by listening to the words being exchanged between Riley and Farkle.

"How are the contractions babe?" Farkle asked concerned.

Riley sighed in pain, wiping some sweat off of her forehead. "They hurt. And there's almost no space between them now," she cried. Maya hated seeing her best friend in so much pain. But she knew Farkle was even more concerned.

"I think that means we're getting close," Farkle promised. His hand stroked through Riley's damp hair as their smiles met. "We're going to meet our son soon."

Maya smiled warmly at the love she saw in front of her. Her two best friends were finally getting the little family they had deserved so long. The blonde looked down at her husband. His sleeping face was always so calm and relaxed, but that wasn't much different than his usual face. After pressing a kiss to Lucas's hair, she laid her head down against his. Slowly she let her eyes flutter closed. They only flew open a few minutes later, followed by Lucas's eyes, when the door flew open. The doctor came in and smiled at the couple holding hands on the bed.

"How are we doing Riley?"

"I feel horrible! I can't get comfortable, my ribs hurt, and-" Riley rambled.

"Well let's just check how far you are. It shouldn't be long," the doctor smiled.

"That's what you said 3 and a half hours ago!" Riley bellowed. Maya laughed under her breathe. It was just so interesting seeing child birth from this side. Usually she was the one making smart ass comments out of pain and frustration to the doctor.

The doctor lifted her head up after a quick examination to see how far Riley was dilated. "Not long at all. Looks like you're ready to push."

The whole group seemed to stop in their movements. This was it. This was the moment they had been waiting for for 9 months; well, actually for much longer. The doctor hurriedly rushed Riley out of the room and to the delivery room. Farkle walked alongside the bed, holding Riley's hand as tight as he possibly could. Maya moved herself from her husband's lap. She walked over to the couch and scooped Lilly up her arms. Lilly was wiping the sleepies out of her eyes and pushing the messy blonde hair out of her face.

"What's going on mommy?" she asked, looking around the room to see her auntie and uncle gone.

Maya put on her biggest smile to show the child how exciting this moment was. "Auntie Riley is having her baby!"

"Finally!" Lilly gasped. "That took forever!" Maya looked over to Lucas, rolling her eyes. He knew she was teasing, knowing that her child births _actually_ took forever and Riley's only took about 41/2 hours.

Pushing was quick, Riley powered through it like only Riley could. As much as Maya wanted to see the baby, the baby she was the god-mother to, she wanted the kids there to meet him to. Riley wanted Caroline and Noah there, too. She wanted the whole clan to meet her new baby boy. So Maya made a promise that she wouldn't go in to meet the baby until Lucas had gone home to pick up the other two members of the Friar family. Lucas tried to make it as quick as possible. But of course, neither child was ready to go out when he got home. Many impatient, even bordering on angry, texts came through to his phone from his wife while he was trying to dress both of his children and brush Caroline's hair and get a diaper bag ready for Noah. Maya was itching to go in and visit with the new parents. Both her and Lilly were pacing the floor outside of the room, just ready to burst through the door as soon as they saw Lucas and the kids round the corner.

"Finally Huckleberry! You took so long!" Maya sighed before picking Lilly up in her arms and nearly running into Riley's room. In the bed sat Riley, holding a tiny baby in her arms.

Little Oliver Minkus was a picture of perfection. He had big brown eyes like Riley did and was only 6 tiny pounds. He was as calm as ever, even after being passed around to both Lucas and Maya and being lightly hugged by Lilly. Caroline was still sick so she was told her could try holding the baby in a couple weeks when she was completely healthy. The 5 year old pouted but understood.

"He's the most perfect god-son I could imagine having," Maya gushed. Lucas hung over her shoulder, holding their own son in his arms, watching his god-son's eyes roam around the room. Each of the 4 friends, Maya, Lucas, Farkle, and Riley took turns looking around the room. There were so many things they were thankful for. They had gotten to marry their best friends', there were 4 children in the room that made each day a new adventure, and they were all still here for each other. Later that day, when Zay and Izzy finally arrived at the hospital with their own kids, there was even more to be thankful for. There was no shortage of love in Riley's hospital room.

 **A/N: Ok so I'll be honest, this was not my favorite one-shot that I've written…. But I still wanted to get something out to you guys. To kind of make-up for this one, I'll try to get another one up soon.**

 **Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. How did you guys like this story? Let me know in the comments. Also tell me if you want more one-shots in this universe… I was thinking of doing that!**

 **A new multi-chapter fic will be up soon so subscribe to me to see exactly when:)**

 **Thanks for reading guys!**


	14. Figure Us Out: Part 4

**A/N: AHHH long time no update. I'm the worst… but here's the next part to the 'Figure Us Out' series. Enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Their sophomore year of high school._

 _Summary: No one knows that they're dating. But they'll find out…. one by one. Maybe these two should learn to keep their voices down._

Figure Us Out: Part 4

"God Maya you can't still be mad at me!" Lucas yelled at the blonde who was stomping away a few feet in front of him. "Maya come on will you talk to me?" he whined.

Maya stopped walking and turned an angry face towards he boyfriend. Her mouth twisted to try to say words. She darted her eyes around the hall as Lucas watched in anticipation to see what she would say; or do. Knowing Maya meant he didn't put it past her to swing her fist at him. But instead of throwing hits, she turned to the classroom next to them and looked inside to see it empty. Blue eyes looked up to tell Lucas to follow her as she twisted the doorknob. The two entered the classroom and Maya made her way over to stand in front the teacher's desk. Lucas stayed in his place in front of the now closed door.

"You seriously can't still be mad at me," Lucas said, not being able to hold back a little bit of a tone. Maya spun her body around quickly to look at him.

"You left me there to deal with that on my own! So yes I'm still mad at you Lucas!" Maya shouted. It had only been two days since Topanga found out about the two of them. Understandably, Maya was not too happy about being ditched by Lucas. He tried calling her that night after his practice like he promised he would but every call he made to the blonde was swiftly ignored. Texts went unanswered and Lucas got worried. He found himself climbing up the fire escape outside of Maya's window. The angry girl greeted him with a glare. Before Lucas could even get more than 10 words out about being sorry, Maya had shut the window closed and locked it, leaving him alone with the cold night air hitting him.

Even Riley had noticed the difference in the behavior between the two of them. There was no name calling, no quiet conversations with little hints of playful teasing thrown in. She had even grown used to the stares. Those had always been there, since the beginning of the friendship. But for the past couple days, those looks had been replaced with glares on Maya's end and pleading, slightly annoyed looks from Lucas. She had only questioned it once to Maya, but luckily Zay was standing next to them and was able to change the subject and distract Riley.

Lucas had tried every chance he got for the past couple days to get Maya to talk to him, but she hadn't budged until now. "Maya I'm sorry I left," Lucas apologized again.

"You've said you're sorry like 80 times."

"That's because I am sorry, Maya!" he whined. Both could tell the other was frustrated as they let their own hands get tangled in their own hair. "Why can't you just forgive me?"

Maya's eyes became sad for a mere moment. Lucas wasn't sure what it was that he said that made her feel vulnerable in this moment, but he sensed it in the way she folded her arms over her chest. "You can't spend our entire relationship bailing on me. I can't do this on my own Lucas!" she burst out, raising her voice and letting the glare return to her face. "This is supposed to be you and me. I shouldn't have to explain everything all by myself!"

"There wouldn't be anything to explain if we could just tell people about us!" Lucas all but screamed.

He regretted getting so angry the second the words left his tongue and he saw the sadness return to the blue eyes he loved so much in front of him. This time the sadness stayed there.

"Are you really that angry that we aren't telling people?" Maya asked with a small voice.

Up until this moment, Lucas had maintained his stance that he didn't mind that his relationship with the tiny blonde was a secret. At least out loud. Whatever Maya needed, he was ok with. He understood that it would be hard for her to tell Riley, considering his own history with her. But each day that passed that he was not able to hold her hand as they walked down the hallway or kiss her in the morning when he met her at school, it became harder.

"I'm not angry. But do I wish we could tell everybody? Yes. I want to be able to act like a couple with my girlfriend, Maya, that's all," he explained. His feet inched closer to her until he could reach up and tangle his hands in her long hair. Maya's blue eyes threatened to fill with water as she looked into her boyfriend's green eyes. She hadn't really acknowledged that not telling Riley, and everybody else really, was affecting him too.

"I don't know why I'm not ready to tell everyone. I'm sorry," she sniffled.

Staying true to his personality, Lucas just smiled and pushed a strand of hair behind his girlfriend's ear. "It's ok, I can wait."

"No it's not ok! And you shouldn't have to wait. It's not- not fair to you," Maya cried. Luckily, she was able to suck back any actual tears from falling but she suddenly felt an enormous guilt settle in her gut. Lucas was good. _Too good for her_ , she thought in between the comfort of his fingers stroking her arm.

"Well I will wait because I'm not going anywhere. If you need time, then I'll give it to you. I just like being with you and I don't want to do anything to screw it up," Lucas smiled. "Well, anything else," he smirked, remembering he was in trouble just 10 minutes ago for ditching her with Topanga when _they_ should've been explaining _their_ relationship. "And I promise I won't bail on you again. Next time someone gets an explanation about us, I promise you can ditch me."

Maya finally sucked back all her tears and laughed. The guilt was still settled in her stomach and she was sure it would only grow and get worse every time she saw Lucas sigh about not being able to publically act like a couple.

A moment of minor solace washed over her when Lucas's lips lightly connected to hers. His eyes were soft and honest, which made her guild pang with hurt. He didn't deserve to be a secret. Maya wasn't able to finish her thought before they heard the sound of the classroom door close. The blondes looked up to see Cory Matthews standing there, staring at them.

"Matthews! What are you doing in here?" Maya nervously stuttered. Lucas backed up, taking his hands off of Maya immediately, even though he knew from the calm look on Matthew's face that he had already seen more than Lucas just touching Maya.

"It's my classroom," Cory answered in a matter-of-fact tone. Both Maya and Lucas took a moment to gaze around at their surroundings and suddenly felt stupid. They had been so caught up in their fight and their talk that they didn't even notice the classroom they wandered into was Matthew's. It seemed like so many things got solved in that room.

In the moment of awkward silence, Lucas scratched the back of his neck with his hand, only to find it a bit clammy. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Longer than you would want me to be standing here," Cory answered with a sigh.

Both blondes fidgeted nervously as they thought through all the words they had just said. Matthews for sure wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut about this. He loved Riley too much. He would want to tell her. Maya could feel her skin becoming hot at just the thought of her best friend having to hear about her and Lucas's relationship from her dad, instead of from Maya.

"Guys listen-" Cory started, stepping closer to the teens.

"Matthews please you can't tell Riley!" Maya interrupted.

"I'm not going to."

"I don't know how to-" Maya stopped when she felt Lucas's hand grip her arm. Suddenly the words that had just filled the room from her favorite teacher's mouth processed in her head. "You're not going to tell Riley?" she asked tentatively.

Matthews shook his head and waited for Maya to speak, but she just stood and stared. His eye sight moved up to Luca, whose hand was still gripping lightly on Maya's arm. He looked just as stunned as Maya did. Cory took steps forward to reach the kids. "Look guys, this," he started, gesturing between the two blondes in front of him, "is none of my business, alright? But how long?"

"A month and a half," Lucas answered.

"Look I can tell you two care about each other. And I'm not even going to get into why you won't tell Riley or how this happened," Cory yammered. Lucas's hand went up, in an effort to begin to give a short, summary version of how he and Maya had come to decide to actually be together. But before anything more than half of a word came out of the young boy's mouth, Cory threw his hand up. "Seriously I don't need to know; I don't want to know!" Maya cracked a grin at the reluctance Cory had to know about any of this. "But like I said, I can see you two care about each other. I promise you Riley will be able to see it too."

Truthfully, Maya wasn't sure how many more times someone had to tell her that before she believed them. If it took someone shouting it to her a hundred more times then she wanted someone to do it already. Especially in the moment of looking up to see Lucas's face and knowing he agreed, painfully agreed with what Matthews was saying. She just wanted to believe like everyone else seemed to. In a way she did. In a way, she knew in her heart that Riley would tell her she was fine with this. But what if Riley said that but didn't mean it? What if this whole thing got more complicated? Reaching her hand down, she grasped the comforting hand she had held in secret for a month. She didn't want to do complicated with Lucas, not again. But then again, maybe she should have thought of that before they decided to keep their real attempt at a relationship secret.

"So you won't say anything?" Lucas asked, breaking Maya out of her trance of worry.

Cory shook his head, with a small grin plastered on his face. "No. If Riley finds out- _when_ Riley finds out, it needs to be from you two. Both of you!" he smirked, turning his glance fully on Lucas. The boy suddenly became nervous again realizing that Cory had heard their fight basically from the beginning.

Maya wanted to smile. Maybe she even thought she did smile, subconsciously at least. But her face had so much worry and concern present on it, even a twinge of guilt showed in her blue eyes. Cory dropped his smirk when he looked over to see Maya with all that emotion. "Are you ok Maya?" he asked. Lucas followed suit and brought his eyes down to her. But Maya couldn't look at him. His gaze would be too kind, too understanding.

"Yeah I'm fine! I'm just glad you know Matthews," she said. It wasn't a complete lie. She loved the Matthews like they were family. But Riley was the most important 'Matthews' and too many people were finding out before her. It was just making it harder for Maya to tell her best friend. Maya lurched forward and wrapped her little arms around the man who had been like a father to her for so long. Lucas stood back, smiling at the love his girlfriend had for Cory Matthews.

Once Maya started to pull away, at the risk of getting to emotional for so many reasons, Cory spoke to her through his smile. "You know I'm always here for you. And so is Riley."

Lucas draped one of his arms around his girlfriend's shoulders and pulled her into him. "I keep telling her that," he joked.

Maya didn't take it as a joke. To Maya it was just salt in the wound. Her heart hurt to know that she was doing this to Lucas. "Well we should be in class," Maya reminded quickly.

"Go," Cory smiled, walking around the couple to place his briefcase on his desk and start preparing all his papers.

"Can we get a note?" Maya smirked. There was no answer. Just a blank look pointed in her direction from the teacher.

Lucas suddenly started lightly pushing Maya from the small of her back. He leaned in close to her ear. "I think that's a not," he whispered.

"Yeah I got that."

As Maya walked down the hall the her class, Lucas by her side even though his class was on the other side of the school from hers, she couldn't help but wonder what kept Lucas next to her. All these promises she kept giving him about telling people about their relationship and telling Riley were empty promises. He didn't deserve that. If she couldn't find a way to get herself to tell Riley for her own good, maybe she could find a way to tell her for Lucas's good.

 **A/N: So the rest of the series is more connected to each other than the story up until now. Just so you know.**

 **Also I'm going to start putting an 'on que' addition to the end of each chapter. This will just say the prompt of the next one-shot to be posted. 90% of the time, it will be accurate. The other 10% of the time, I will just try to write what I said would be next and not be able to find proper inspiration and write something else lol**

 **Thanks for reading guys! What's your favorite oneshot so far? What's your favorite installment of 'Figure Us Out' so far? Let me know in the comments please! I'll try not to take so long with the next update lol**

 **On que: Lucas asks Maya to be his 'friend date' for a night;)**


	15. When In Las Vegas

**A/N: I WROTE SOMETHING. I haven't been able to write in like a decade! I've been horribly uninspired since the news of the official cancellation of GMW. But I was finally able to get some inspo for a new one-shot and I LOVE how this came out! It's really really long though so buckle in lol Enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Early 20s; dating 2 months._

 _Summary: In which Maya and Lucas have more than a few drinks… From prompt 296. "Ok, am I drunk or did you really just say that?"_

When In Las Vegas

"To Riley!" everyone yelled in unison as they clinked their glasses together.

Everyone was dressed in their finest as the sparkling night-line of Las Vegas shimmered outside of the hotel window. The young 20 somethings had all gathered here in the city to celebrate Riley getting a huge promotion at work. There was a big party in Vegas for everyone in the company. Unfortunately, Riley couldn't get her friends into the party but they insisted that they could find their own fun for the night. She was going to be escorted by her boyfriend, Greg, a writer at the newspaper in the sports division.

"We're so proud of you Riles!" Maya squealed, pulling in her best friend for a hug.

"Assistant editor at only 23 years old. Riley that is truly amazing!" Greg gushed, kissing his girlfriend's forehead. The group huddled close together to show as much love to Riley as they could. Maya leaned away for a moment to pour herself another glass of champagne, pouring some into Zay's glass too when he held it out to her.

Riley's cheeks flushed pink with blush as her smiled widened thinking about it. "Well technically I'm only assistant editor of the politics department of the paper," she corrected, setting her empty glass on the table.

"Still it is very impressive! It's only a matter of time before The New York Times will call you their editor in chief," Lucas laughed, downing what was left of his glass of champagne. Riley's smile tripled in size thinking of that title.

"This was totally worth not having fun in college," Riley joked. But in all seriousness, as much as she wanted to let loose in college and join a sorority and go to parties with Maya and have fun, she instead took a once in a lifetime internship right out of high school and worked her way through the line. Day and night she worked to be where she was. She was the youngest assistant editor The New York Times had ever had. "Alright well we better get going. Don't want to be late to the company party. Are you guys sure you don't mind not coming? Maybe I can convince my boss if you guys are all there. Maybe if-"

"Riles!" Zay cut her off. "It's Vegas. I'm sure we will find something to do," he promised with a smirk.

Riley giggled and shrugged her shoulders. Checking her makeup and hair in the mirror, she waved goodbye to her friends, grabbed her boyfriend's hand and left the hotel room. Almost as soon as the door closed, Maya moved from her spot on the arm of the couch and swiftly over to her luggage. The boys' eyes followed her with curiosity as she moved.

"Alright boys. Let's get this night started!" she announced holding up 2 bottles of Patron.

"Yes!" Zay cheered, heading straight over to the excited blonde, who was pulling shot glasses out of the cabinet above the mini fridge. Both Lucas and Farkle gave an unsure side-eye to each other before turning their attention back to their friends.

"I don't think we should get too crazy guys," Farkle suggested. Maya ignored the comment and began pouring enough shots for all 4 of them.

Zay, however, looked wide-eyed at his less than willing friends. "Oh come on guys! We're on vacation. In Vegas! How often do we get to take vacations?" Zay tried to convince.

"He's got a point Fark," Lucas leaned over to the genius.

No one in the group ever got much of a vacation. Maya was always busy at the gallery. It was her gallery, her very own gallery and she had put so much blood, sweat, and tears into starting it with a friend from college. Zay trained every day, for most of the day. His dance career had hit a high point as he recently signed on to tour with a dance company. This trip was, to him, his last 'hurrah' before leaving on tour in just a couple of weeks and being on a strict performance and training schedule for the next 7 months. Lucas didn't get much vacation time at the vet clinic since he was still just an assistant. Plus the Texan was still in medical school, training specifically for the veterinary profession. And Farkle, well Farkle was focusing on transitioning to take over his dad's company. It kept him pretty busy learning the ins and outs.

No one got to take a vacation ever.

So maybe Zay and Maya had a point. They could afford to let loose this one night while they were here. They didn't have to return home until the next evening. A couple shots wouldn't kill them.

Lucas was the first of the two boys to break and walk over to the ones that were holding the alcohol. His girlfriend held out a shot glass filled practically to the brim with tequila. He took it from her hand and threw his arm around her as all their eyes turned to Farkle.

"What do you say Farks? Let loose for just one night? Then tomorrow you can go back to being Mr. Turtleneck-Serious-Multi-Billion-Dollar-Company-Owner," Maya teased. Out in front of her, she held a filled shot glass for Farkle, her smirking grin enticing him to join his friends.

Finally, a smile flashed onto his face. "When in Vegas right?" he laughed, walking over to the rest of the group. With caution, he grabbed the tiny glass from Maya's hand. He made the mistake of taking a little sniff of the liquid inside. The burning stench almost made him change his mind, but he looked up from the glass to see his smiling friends all around him. Just one night; just a couple of drinks.

"To a very well deserved mini vacation!" he cheered, leading the toast. The small circle cheered, clinking their shot glasses together, and downing their shots.

What could go wrong?

One shot turned to two. Two shots turned to four. And suddenly, both tequila bottles had been finished, as well as a small vodka bottle from the hotel room mini fridge. The group couldn't even see straight by the time they left the hotel room and walked down the infamous Vegas strip to a club. Maya rode on Lucas's back the whole way, laughing as Zay and Farkle belted out verses of various songs from the musical "Wicked." It's not like either of them could remember the words in their drunken state but it's also not like Maya or Lucas cared in their drunken state.

In the club, the group for some reason ordered even more drinks from the bar. Zay was dancing up a storm, pulling over every pretty girl that caught his eye line. The blonde couple settled for sitting on a couch in a VIP area Maya had flirted her way into. Maya's small body was positioned on Lucas's lap, his hands tangled in her long hair. Their lips stayed connected so long that people around them had serious questions about how they were breathing.

"I love Vegas!" a shirtless Farkle suddenly interrupted, appearing right in front of them. The two broke apart and took a second to adjust to the pulsing lights of the club.

"I love Vegas, too!" Maya shouted over the loud music that was filling her ears.

"I love you!" Lucas exclaimed. Under normal circumstances, Maya would've stopped dead in her tracks, froze up. Something. This was the first time that phrase was used in the short 2 months they had been dating.

But right now, under these lights and the incredible influence of so much alcohol, Maya's face lit up. "I love you, too!" she shouted. "We're in love!" Without missing a beat, Lucas pulled Maya in and began another purely intoxicating kiss. At a certain point, the two weren't sure if they had been made this drunk by the shots they took or by the kiss they were enveloped in now. Farkle didn't dare break apart their kiss again, and instead grabbed the hand of a pretty brunette girl he spotted dancing by the bar and escorted her to the middle of the dance floor.

After a few more hours, the gang decided to leave the club and go back up to their hotel room with a group of "new friends" they had met at the club, including the pretty brunette Farkle was dancing with. Maya found herself on a high, twirling around the street on the strip. Her boyfriend's words swirled around in her head, putting her on a cloud. Stars sat in Lucas's eyes as he watched his girl dance and spin and smile in front of him.

"Shots!" Zay yelled as they walked through the door of their hotel room. It was empty and quiet so it was clear that Riley and Greg weren't back yet.

The majority of the group of already very drunk people followed Zay over the mini fridge where he began pouring shots from a bottle he found in the fridge. A dazed out Maya made her way into the master suite and climbed up onto the huge California king sized bed. With wonder in his eyes, Lucas followed her, discarding his girlfriend's shoes, which Maya had stripped off in the elevator up to their floor, by the door. Giggles filled the room in the tone of Maya's voice. Her feet sent her up and down as she jumped on the bed in pure ecstasy. Even drunk, Lucas could swear he had never seen anything so beautiful. Years of holding back feelings and being 'just friends' with Maya had only made him fall for her more. They even lived together in a nice 2 bedroom apartment. They moved in together right after Maya graduated from college. Her original plan was to move in with Riley, of course. But Riley felt it was best for her to move back in with her parents for a while until she started to make enough money to move out on her own comfortably. And since Lucas was also looking for an apartment, the then just best friends figured 'why not?'

Admiring green eyes hovered on, ignoring the thrilled shouts and cheers from the rest of the group in the other room. Maya suddenly seemed to notice the lingering eyes on her. Her jumping stopped but her smile stayed firmly in place, taking her turn to admire the eyes of the boy looking back at her.

"What?" she asked, giggling. Lucas held his hand out to her as he stepped to the bed's edge. Maya grabbed it and was pulled down. Strong arms grabbed her and she wrapped her small legs around Lucas's torso in response. Her arms dangled loosely around his neck, letting her fingers play with little tufts of his blonde hair. "Seriously what?" she asked as she saw Lucas's smile grow from ear to ear.

"Let's get married!" he shouted.

Maya's blue eyes grew wide. But they still contained so much joy. So much joy in fact, that not much apprehension could be found in them. "Ok, am I drunk or did you really just say that?"

"Both! But I love you and I want you to be my wife!" Lucas rambled, his smile not leaving his face. His lips leaned in to place a passionate kiss on his girlfriend's mouth. Immediately, he could taste the alcohol on her lips. Maya pulled back from the kiss first. "So?"

"Let's do it! Let's get married! Right now!"

Both blondes rode a quick cloud of excitement. Their lips connected again and again, showering each other in kisses. Their lips, their cheeks, theirs necks; all of them were peppered with loving, drunken kisses. Lucas dropped Maya, holding her waist until her feet hit the carpeted floor. His hands cupped her flushed cheeks, grinning at how adorable her pink cheeks were in this moment. He pushed hair out of her face, pressing his lips everywhere. He kissed every piece of visible skin on his girl. Maya's laughter filled the room and was practically music to Lucas's ears.

"Come on!" he exclaimed, sliding his fingers between Maya's and pulling her towards the door. He dipped down to pick up the shoes that belonged to her that he had thrown by the door just minutes ago.

"Wait! Wait Lucas," Maya pulled back. Terror that she might change her mind shot through Lucas. His smile turned into a concerned frown that was only consoled when he saw Maya's smile still in place. "Don't we need a like… witness… or something?" Maya asked. At least that was what she knew from movies.

Lucas breathed a sigh of relief at hearing her actual concern. "Zay!" he called out after thinking for no more than a minute. He dragged Maya into the open space of the hotel suite to see Zay looking at the room service menu.

The drunk boy couldn't help but jump a little bit when he saw the two overly excited blondes bounce in front of him. Their hands were tightly entangled, fingers interlocked. Maya's other arm was grabbing at Lucas's arm, anxiously holding onto it as if she was afraid he would move farther away if given the chance. But from the look on Lucas's face, moving away from Maya was not part of his plan.

"We need you to come somewhere with us," a smiling Maya said with no detail.

"Where?" Zay asked.

"Should we tell him?" Lucas tried to whisper, but actually just asked in normal volume.

Maya giggled at the funny question. "Well we kind of have to," she smiled, tightening her grip on her boyfriend's hand. "We're getting married!" she announced, all too ecstatically.

Zay's face grew an expression that could compete for highest excitement level with the two 'engaged' blondes right in front of him. "Oh my god! This is like my dream come true!" he cried, pulling his friends in for a hug. "When?"

"Right now! We need you to be our witness or whatever," Lucas explained.

"Right now? This is the greatest day of my life! Can I come?" Zay gushed.

"Zay we just asked you to come!" Maya whined. Zay cheered, practically leaping off of his feet with joy. "Let's go!"

The three were out the door, Maya scooped up in Lucas's arms and Zay right on their heels, Maya's shoes in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other. Farkle didn't even notice his friends leave and the three didn't even think to tell him. They were too anxious to get to the closest Las Vegas wedding chapel.

…

Maya's head was pounding. She didn't want to open her eyes, even just feeling the sunlight behind her closed eyelids was bad enough. She let out a long groan as she forced her sore and tired body to turn over. Fluttering open slowly, her eyes caught glimpse of the burning morning sunlight coming through the window.

"Oh my god," she moaned to herself.

She couldn't even begin to guess how many drinks she had had the night before. Most of the night was a complete blank, only really remembering most of the beginning of the night after Riley left and some of being at the club. Everything after that she couldn't remember if a gun was pointed to her head. Turning over more so she was on her back, she looked to her side. Lucas lay there, breathing softly, clearly knocked out asleep and probably as hungover as Maya was. Looking down, Maya noticed she was in nothing but her boyfriend's shirt. _Shit_ , she thought. They most definitely had sex and she could only hope they had enough sense, even blackout drunk, to put a condom on. She tried to sit up, letting the room around her settle before moving again. Pushing her messy hair out of her face, she caught sight of something that would most likely be a bigger problem than the condom thing.

"Ahhhhh!" the blonde screamed upon seeing the small, but shiny diamond ring on her finger. The sudden high pitched scream took Lucas right out of his sleep and sent him tumbling over the edge of the bed and onto the floor. Maya paid no mind, she didn't even turn her head to the _thud_ Lucas made on the floor.

When his head shot back up, his tired and red eyes stared right at Maya. "What the hell Maya!?" he yelled, rubbing his temple where his headache was the worst.

"Ahhh!" Maya screamed again, flashing the ring in front of Lucas. He began to crawl back into the bed to get a better look at what he was afraid he saw.

"Ahh!" he returned.

"Ahhhhh!" Maya continued the freak out.

Zay's head suddenly popped up from the floor on the other side of the foot board of the bed. The expression on his face was tired and pained, proving he was just as hungover as the couple in the bed. "Will you cool it with the screaming? Geez like my head doesn't already hurt enough," he groaned. Neither blonde spoke or explained. Lucas was in too much shock and Maya couldn't find t in her to get actual words out. Even if she could, she didn't know what words to use. Instead, she repeated the action she used with Lucas and held her hand up in front of the moaning boy, showing the ring in plain sight. "Ahhhh!"

"Ahhhhh!" Maya groaned. "Lucas what the hell is this?" Little stuttered sounds were all the Texan could get out. He was trying like hell to piece together the night before in his head.

"That is a wedding ring," Zay said matter-of-factly. Both blondes shot a glare in his direction. Zay took the hint that maybe right now wasn't exactly his place to butt in. He reached for his phone and lowered himself behind the foot board so he was out of sight.

"Thank you Zay!" Maya yelled sarcastically. Her whole body turned to Lucas, her new husband technically. "Why the hell is this on my finger?" she yelled.

Lucas didn't answer. He just buried his head in his hands, trying one last time to desperately remember the night before. It was no use. The whole night was one giant blur. He never was much of a drinker. He would guess the first 2 shots were all he needed to be drunk and he knew it went well beyond 2 shots. "Shit what did we do last night?" he groaned into his hands.

Zay's head peaked back over foot board and looked nervously at the couple. "Uh guys. I think you got married last night," he announced carefully.

Wide eyes grew on both blondes. There goes Maya's hope that they won that ring from a gumball machine and it was all just a joke. Zay held his phone up to the two and Maya grabbed it out of his hands quick. Flipping through photo after photo there was no use pretending that they did anything except tie the knot last night. There were photos of Lucas and Maya picking out a ring at what looked like a small, sketchy pawn shop; photos of them at the chapel; kissing; posing with Zay and the Elvis minister who they assumed was the one who married them. It was all kind of overwhelming.

"Oh my god," Maya grumbled. Her eyes stayed on a picture of her and Lucas kissing while Maya flashed her ring and the Elvis minister cheered behind them. "Elvis married us!"

The door the bedroom suite opened and a disheveled, tired Riley came fumbling in with both Greg and Farkle behind her. "Guys what is it with all the yelling in here?" she asked, rubbing crust out of her tired eyes.

With a smirk, Zay spoke. "You are apparently looking at Mr. And Mrs. Friar."

"What?!" all three people in the doorway yelled in unison. They ran forward to grab hold of the phone Maya was holding out to them. Flipping through the pictures, the gasping looks never left their faces. "You guys got married last night?" Riley asked, clearly and understandably shocked.

"We don't really remember," Lucas answered with slight shame in his eyes. He wasn't ashamed of marrying Maya. He was ashamed of doing it while drunk; he was ashamed that they didn't remember it at all. But most of all, he was ashamed that they were in a situation right now where they all had to look at them getting married as some huge mistake.

"See!" Farkle suddenly burst. "I told you drinking that much was a mistake!"

Maya's head shot up at the condescending tone. "Thanks Farkle. I think we get that drinking leads to bad decisions. I'm glad we all learned such a valuable lesson!" she barked back. No one spoke for a minute. Maya was on edge and no one wanted to say anything to get her even madder. Everyone in the room was hungover, some more than others, but still. "What do we do?" Maya asked in a tiny voice.

"Pack up. Get ready to go. We have to catch our plane ride home," Riley ordered. She turned to leave but Maya's voice pulled her back.

"I meant what do we do about this?" she corrected, holding her ring hand up.

Almost instantly, Riley turned back around, grabbing Greg's hand and making her way to the door. "I don't know. You guys figure it out because I'm too hungover to deal with any of this," she insisted before leaving the room.

Everyone stared in disbelief at such an 'un-Riley' answer. "I don't like 'Vegas Riley'," Maya commented before falling over to lay on Lucas, burying her head in his lap.

Both Zay and Farkle decided to take Riley's advice to get ready. They were looking forward to being home. But Maya and Lucas still sat in the bed. They couldn't just go home and leave this Vegas trip behind them. They had mistakes that would follow them home. Well, one mistake. But a big one.

Maya kept glancing down at the ring on her finger. Lucas kept glancing over at her, trying to read her face. But he had nothing from it. Both sat desperately trying to remember all they could from last night, anything. Little bits and pieces would come back at moments, but it's not like remembering would help. That ring would still on Maya's finger. There would still be a marriage certificate on the nightstand that they didn't even notice until a couple minutes after they were left alone. They would still be married. Even if they remembered every detail from last night, they would still be married.

"You told me you love me last night," Maya suddenly said as she remembered the moment from the club.

"You said it back," Lucas smiled, all of a sudden remembering too, as if Maya saying it dug the memory out from within his brain. He can't believe he said it. He had felt it for a while, he knew that. But he hadn't said it yet. And he sure as hell didn't expect Maya to say it back. But she did. When she was drunk… "Did you mean it?" he asked, suddenly doubting the honesty of that memory.

Maya looked at Lucas. She saw the nervous vulnerability in his green eyes. "Did you?" she asked, matching his openness right now.

"Yeah I did." The words came out with a second of pause or thought or doubt. Lucas didn't have any of that, not with Maya.

Grinning, Maya looked at the ring on her hand. "I meant it too," she smiled. Her mind kept going back and forth on being excited or regretting everything. Everything was just happening so fast, she couldn't decide how she felt. And the raging hangover that was pulsating through Maya's body did not help in the slightest. "But that doesn't mean we should've gotten married Lucas!"

"I know," Lucas soothed. His hand tangled in her head, stroking the golden mane to calm the girl down as best as he could. "Look we have to catch our flight. Let's just fly home and tomorrow we can go get this annulled alright? Everything is going to be fine." A soft kiss was pressed to her forehead as Maya nodded, knowing there was nothing to do right now.

"I'm going to go take a cold shower," she whispered, kissing Lucas on the cheek.

Lucas watched his girlfriend, well wife, not for long though, walk to the bathroom. His mind brought up images he had of her from the night before. There weren't many, but little instances of her smiling at him or laughing. His wife. God that word felt good. _Wife_. After finally being able to say girlfriend in reference to the tiny blonde, he didn't think any word would feel as good. But this felt better.

Words weren't exchanged much on the way to the airport a couple hours later. Most of them were too hungover to feel like saying anything. The silence was welcomed. Zay wished he wasn't so sick so he could tease his two friends about their drunken marriage. But even thinking about witty jokes took up too much brain power in his throbbing head. The flight felt too long. The whole group hoped to get some sleep during the trip, but that didn't work out very well. Maya threw up, Farkle threw up, Riley threw up twice. Apparently, a seven hour long flight while terribly hungover was not a good idea.

But seven hours later, the group landed safely back in New York. Their eyes were begging to shut, their bodies aching more than they could imagine. The goodbyes were short, all of them wanting to get to their own beds and sleep off the rest of the Vegas trip. Riley and Greg caught the first taxi, climbing into the backseat so Riley could immediately lay her head on Greg's shoulder and shut her fatigued eyes. Farkle and Zay caught the next one just minutes later. They didn't live close to each other, but Farkle lived just down the block from Izzy and it seemed her and Zay's on-again off-again relationship was about to start up again. But no one mentioned it. They could question him about it tomorrow. Lastly, Maya and Lucas slugged into their cab that drove all too fast to their apartment. They drudged their bags and bodies threw the lobby and into their elevator, Maya leaning into Lucas the whole ride up to the 6th floor.

"Home sweet home!" Lucas said exhausted as they walked through the door.

"I missed our messy apartment," Maya moaned, letting herself fall onto the couch to lay down. "Can we just sleep for 60 hours and then we'll go get this whole marriage thing taken care of?"

Lucas saw this as his opportunity to bring up a crucial conversation. It had been on his mind since the second they woke up that morning. He hadn't been quite sure how to bring it up. But maybe he should just do it. "Can I suggest something?" he asked carefully, taking a seat on the couch next to Maya. She sat up, wiping her eyes, letting out a yawn. They both knew fatigue ran through each of them like a river. But Maya nodded her head anyway. "I've been thinking about the whole marriage thing-"

"I seriously cannot believe we did this," Maya cut him off, throwing in a small chuckle. "At least we can end it easily."

"What if we didn't end it?" Lucas spoke quickly, wanting to get the words out before he chickened out of saying them at all.

"You mean… stay married?" Maya wondered. Confusion ran through her and covered her face. But she couldn't deny that the idea made a wave of exhilaration run down her spine. "Lucas we got married in Vegas, why would we not fix this?"

Lucas scooted even closer to Maya, pulling her hand into his, tightening his grip on it. "What is there to fix? Maya we love each other!" he pleaded. Maya didn't have a response to that. She did love him. She loved him more than words could say. But a drunken Vegas wedding to her short term boyfriend wasn't exactly how she pictured getting married one day. "And I know you like the idea of being married."

"How would you know that?" she laughed.

Those green eyes looked down to where that little pawn shop ring sparkled on Maya's finger. All through the flight, he would look over to see her eyeing it. She liked it. The fact that Lucas had been the one to put that there made it special. "Because you haven't taken that ring off yet," he smirked.

Again, Maya had no immediate response. Blue eyes followed to the ring and a smile crept onto her face. It was a mystery who picked it out. She didn't know if she picked it or if Lucas picked it; maybe they both picked it out together. She didn't care though. It was her ring and it was perfect. She didn't want it to go anywhere.

"We've only been dating for 2 months," she mentioned, her eyes staring back up to his. They were kind and sweet, the same as they had always been.

"Ok but how long have we known each other? And we already live together. We spend more time in each other's rooms than in our own," Lucas convinced. "And I don't want to be with anyone else. What does it matter if we're married or dating? We were going to end up in this position someday."

"You really think that?"

"I've always hoped it. I know it's not ideal how it happened, but, Maya I love you," he said with an honest smile. The tight grip he had on her hand was loosened just a bit as he pulled her hand up to press a kiss to it. "Let's just try this."

If Maya was being honest, she agreed with every word he was saying. As much as her brain was whispering to her to think about this and really consider the possibility of going with this unplanned marriage, her heart was louder. Her heart, soul, her entire being screamed to just say yes.

So she did.

"Are you sure?" she asked, her mouth wanting to form the word yes before she exploded.

"As much as I want to lay down on this couch and take the biggest nap of my life is how much I want to stay married to you," Lucas laughed. The sweet sound of Maya's amused laughter rang out and into Lucas's ears, making him smile wider. Her mouth landed on his as she pulled him into her.

She pulled back for just a minute and looked Lucas in the eye with a smirk. "We're going to have to tell our parents we got married in Vegas," she grinned.

"Yeah let's just leave that or tomorrow," Lucas sighed. Before any more words were spoken, the couple laid down, Maya huddled into Lucas's chest so she didn't fall of the edge of the couch. The red blanket that hung over the back was pulled down and spread over the two of them. Normally, both blondes would've been too wired and happy to fall asleep. But after the wild night they had just had, sleep came as soon as they closed their eyes.

 **A/N: OMG did you guys like it!? I will try my very hardest to keep finding inspiration to write for you guys! My asshole!Friar story will continue to be updated because it is fully written already. But my next multi-chapter story won't be uploaded right after I finish this one because I'm having such trouble writing it:(**

 **I love you guys so much! Lucaya forever! (I don't care that we will never see it, I dare someone try to convince me that Lucaya wouldn't have been endgame had it been renewed with Netflix. They would've been iconic and legendary… I know that with my whole body)**


	16. You Can't Pick For Me

**A/N: I'm doing pretty good writing! Mostly only one-shot inspo but hey I'll take it! Lol enjoy this one guys!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Right after the bay window conversation after Maya and Riley come back from upstate and are covered in paint._

 _Summary: From prompt 197. "It's not fair!"_

You Can't Pick For Me

Lucas had no idea what just happened. He sat in the bay window of Riley's room with shock written all over his face. _"You picked Riley."_ The words from Maya's mouth swirled in this head and gave him no peace. What the hell was she even talking about? Nothing made less sense to him than what Maya had just said to him.

Everyone had gone home already. It was just him and Riley sitting in her room. Riley sat next to him in window, her eyes darting over to him every few seconds to try and read his facial expression. He wasn't much. He wasn't saying anything, actually. He was just trying to wrap his head around Maya's words.

"Lucas?" Riley peeped up quietly.

There was a bit of a delay before Lucas's turned his green eyes over to the brunette beside him. "Yeah?" he asked, although he could guess what was about to happen.

"Do you… want to talk? About anything?" Riley asked vaguely.

"Look Riley, I-" he started. He cut his voice when he saw Riley throw her hand up in front of him.

"No, I get it. I get losing to her. She's _Maya_ ," Riley smiled. A blank faced Lucas looked up at his friend. He didn't expect this when he realized he would have to have this conversation with her.

Lucas turned his body fully towards Riley. Her eyes looked down at her lap, her fingers tangling around each other. "First of all, you are not losing to her. I don't think anybody wins here Riles" he said with honestly in his eyes. It was true. He had to live with knowing he hurt Riley, Riley had to be hurt by knowing she wasn't his choice, and Maya would definitely be hurt knowing that she is part of the reason Riley is hurt. It was part of what made this whole decision so hard for Lucas. "But she is Maya. Why does she think she isn't Maya?" he mumbled more to himself than to Riley.

Red suddenly flashed across Riley's cheeks as she heard his question. "Actually, I might have had something to do with that?" she admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"I just…" Riley started, taking a deep breath," I might have gotten it in her head that she's been acting a little too much like me lately." The look on Lucas's face in front of her confirmed what she already knew, but didn't want to admit: that she was wrong to tell Maya that. "You haven't noticed it? The clothes and the grades."

"I've noticed her change. But that doesn't mean she's becoming you," Lucas's tone rang out. He didn't mean to get angry, but he couldn't believe his ears. He didn't believe Riley had been doing this to Maya, putting these things in her head.

A deep, forlorn sigh came out of the brunette. "I know! I don't know why I told her that. I guess… I just didn't want to lose my best friend," she sighed.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas wondered.

"I told Maya she was changing into me so she would just go back to her old self. I don't want her to change. At least I didn't. What if when she changes, our friendship changes?" Riley pondered, sad and mournful.

He didn't mean to demean her fears, but Lucas cracked a small smile. "Riley, if there's one thing I know, it's that you and Maya are going to be best friends until the day you die. And then you'll probably be buried next to each other," he laughed.

"I know," Riley laughed back. Her eyes looked deep into Lucas's. Something felt off. Maybe something always felt off. When Lucas looked at her, she could tell it wasn't the same kind of look that he always gave to Maya. The way he looked into her eyes wasn't the same. He and her blonde best friend always had a bond like that, one that until this moment of clarity, Riley thought maybe she would beat. "You really like her?" Riley asked, in regards to Maya.

Even just looking at the way Lucas's eyes brightened a bit when she said the name gave her the answer. It was Maya; maybe it always had been and Riley was just noticing.

"Yeah I do. I don't know what it is but I really like her," Lucas answered, not noticing that there were stars in his eyes as he thought of that tiny blonde.

A pause happened. Riley was building up her courage to say the words that she was terrified to say out loud. "Then go be with her," she finally got out. It was a disbelieving look on Lucas's face as the words left the girl's mouth.

"Riley I don't want you to-"

"No, Lucas, seriously. You picked her. So go be with her. I'll be fine, I'll get over it," Riley promised. Riley was afraid that seeing her best friend and the boy she had spent so long liking and caring about be together would be too hard. It terrified her if she was being honest. But she didn't want to be selfish or childish. Like Maya, she just wanted the people around her to be happy. They told Lucas to pick and now he had. Riley felt it was the best she could do was to respect that decision.

"I'm sorry." That's all Lucas could say. Seeing the smile on Riley's face made him sure that she was honest about wanting him to go be with Maya. The genuine grin had a hint of sadness or disappointment, probably both, but it was mostly content. He could tell Riley was making peace with what was happening. His choice had hurt her, he knew it would. But he could see that she would be ok.

"You don't have to be sorry, Lucas," Riley grinned. "I told Maya once that she had to feel how she feels. I guess that's the same for you, too," she spoke. Pushing her still purple stained hair out of her face, Riley placed a calming hand on Lucas's knee. She wouldn't let him feel bad about this choice. He did deserve to feel what he felt, just as much as both she and Maya did. "If you don't feel the same way about me that you feel about Maya, then that's how you feel and that's ok."

Lucas's hand covered Riley's as it laid on his knee. "You're ok?" he asked.

"I'll be ok," Riley nodded. "But you're going to be a hard one to get over," she joked.

The air felt lighter and the two friends suddenly felt the tension ease. "And you and me… we're ok?" Lucas asked.

"I promise." Lucas reached over and wrapped his arms around the small framed girl. Riley giggled, knowing she was still covered in purple paint. But her arms wrapped around the cowboy's frame in return, digging her head into the crook of his neck. "Now seriously," Riley started, pulling away from Lucas, "go get Maya."

Too much time had already been wasted tonight. The cowboy jumped up from his spot in the bay window, gave one more grinning glance over his shoulder to Riley, and bolted out the door. He knew Maya would be alone in her apartment. After the engagement that night, Topanga and Cory offered to take Katy and Shawn out for drinks to celebrate. Maya had gone home, wanting to wash off the paint that covered her body and clothes, saying she could celebrate with her parents tomorrow.

Lucas practically ran to the subway station, hyped to finally tell Maya how he felt. But the longer the subway ride lasted, the more annoyed he became. Maya had a lot of nerve to tell him who he picked. By the time, he got off the subway and was a block away from Maya's apartment, he felt steamed. If there was a mirror in front of him, he would guess that he would appear in an actually shade of red. He stalked up the front stairs of her apartment and rode the elevator up, jitters running through his hands as they pulled at the collar and hem of his shirt.

"Lucas? What are you doing here?" Maya asked curious when she opened the door to see him standing there. She had clearly showered, not a trace of purple on her. Blonde hair was still just a bit damp, sitting up in a high messy ponytail on the top of her head and she was donned in leggings and an oversized sweatshirt.

"What the hell was that?" Lucas asked, giving into his anger.

"Excuse me?"

Getting this words and thoughts together, Lucas ran his hands through his hair. He maneuvered around Maya to get into her apartment, not going far, just settling for standing in the middle of her living room. "What the hell were you talking about back there when you said you were turning into Riley?"

Maya closed the door, sensing this to be a long conversation. When she first saw him at the door, she was dying to ask him why he was here instead of with Riley like he should be. But he was here, and now he wanted to have this conversation. The small blonde stepped closer to him, crossing her arms in front of her.

"You haven't noticed it? Everything I've been doing lately? Or how I've been acting? It's all Riley!" Maya ranted.

"You know what I've noticed? I've noticed you getting better grades. And you not getting detention every other day. You're not wearing the same clothes you were wearing when you were 12. I've noticed you growing, Maya. That doesn't mean you're turning into Riley!" Lucas felt the words come up like word vomit. He couldn't stop talking. Her eyes looked confused and slightly curious, like she wanted him to keep talking. "You're not the same person you were 2 years ago. But neither am I and neither is Riley or Zay or anybody. Everybody grows and changes and that's a good thing. But you are still Maya."

Maya wouldn't admit she was affected by his words. Nobody had bothered to tell her it was ok to grow. Nobody cared that she genuinely didn't want to be the girl she was before, the one who was always in trouble and getting bad grades. But this blonde headed cowboy was standing in front of her telling her it was ok. She was still Maya and she, like everyone else, was allowed to change a little bit.

But just then she suddenly became embarrassed. This moment was too vulnerable. This was Riley's guy and she didn't want to have this vulnerability with him, not if he wasn't hers. "Did you come all the way over here just to tell me that?" she asked, making sure her voice had the proper tone. No vulnerability would make its way through.

Lucas could see right through her.

"No it's not," he chuckled sarcastically. "I came over here to tell you that you can't just tell me that I pick Riley! What the hell is that Maya?"

"If you would've picked me, the only reason would've been that I've been acting like Riley!" Maya argued.

"I picked you because I like you Maya!" Lucas yelled out. He could see Maya's face drop as she heard what he had just said. She didn't look like she would be getting words out anytime soon so Lucas kept talking. He had more he needed to say anyway. "And you don't get to sit there and tell me that I pick Riley because I didn't! Who does that make happy? Nobody! Do you know how long it took me to be able to realize that it's you I have wanted to be with all along? Then I finally realize it and you don't care at all about what I want and it's not fair!"

The words spewing from the boy's mouth dug their into Maya's brain through her ears. She could feel every inch of her face begin to be covered in vulnerability. But she didn't care as much as she had 2 minutes ago, when he wasn't hers. But all of a sudden, he became hers.

"You picked me?" Maya's tiny, barely audible, voice asked when she heard Lucas stop talking.

"Yes! And if you wouldn't have been talking about all that ridiculous 'turning into Riley' crap, then I could've told you that before," Lucas scoffed. Maya wasn't making much movement. Lucas took a few steps closer, not wanting to scare her. He suddenly realized this conversation was pretty heavy. Maya wasn't always good at heavy, she wasn't good at vulnerable.

She didn't back away at the tiny steps Lucas was taking towards her. She welcomed them actually. If she could, she would be the one who was taking steps to be closer to him, but she couldn't seem the get her legs to move. "Why would you pick me?" Maya suddenly asked.

There were a million different reasons why. But Lucas decided to focus on the most important one right now. "Because I have to feel what I feel." Looking at Maya, he could tell she was trying to process what he was saying. He tried to be patient, but it felt like minutes were passing when she wasn't saying anything back. Her blue eyes just stared at him, like she thought the moment surrounding her would fade away any second and she was waiting for it to happen. "Are you going to say anything?" he asked her timidly.

"I'm not really sure what to say right now. What about Riley?"

"Riley's ok with it. She sent me over here. I think her exact words were 'go get Maya,'" he chuckled. His attempt to try to get at least a smile out of the blonde in front of him was a success as he saw a grin grow on her lips.

"So what happens now?" Maya asked, her grin staying in place.

"We could try that date thing again. If you want to?" Honestly, Lucas was a little nervous asking. That question could've gone sideways fast, especially since Maya hadn't had a chance to actually talk to Riley about this yet, which Lucas knew she wanted to.

But she nodded her head. "Ok. I would like that, Huckleberry," she smiled. So much pressure was relieved inside of Lucas as he heard the sweet words exit her mouth. "When?" No more time was going to be wasted.

"What about right now?" Lucas suggested, shrugging his shoulders. He couldn't think of a better time. He had waited long enough and he would not give Maya a chance to change her mind. The small girl laughed at the cowboy's eagerness. But honestly, right now sounded like a really good time.

"Ok," she laughed. "Just let me go and change."

Lucas watched the blonde's hair bounce as she bounced off quickly to her room. It was cute to see she was just as eager as he was. Maybe this would work out and maybe it wouldn't. He knew he had to be open to it not working out. They were young after-all. But Riley was right, he had to feel what he felt. They all did. And in his heart he felt like he and Maya were supposed to be together, they were supposed to try. He felt like their whole friendship so far was leading up to this one moment, this one date.

And this one date would start it all. This one date would start them off on one very long, crazy amazing adventure of a relationship.

Lucas sat on the couch, his hands trembling in both nervousness and exhilaration. Maya would never tell him but she, too, was nursing her own trembling hands as she stood in front of her closet trying to find an outfit to change into.

But neither had anything to worry about. The next few hours were nothing like their previous, awkward attempt at a date. The next few hours were filled with laughter and conversation that flowed without hesitation. The date ended only after the two teenagers realized how late it had gotten when Katy texted telling Maya it was time to come home. Hand in hand, the two walked back to Maya's apartment, more ready than ever to dive head first into this feeling they both had toward each other. Neither would have guessed the night would end this way earlier when a sad and unsure Maya, covered head to toe in purple paint, told Lucas that he had picked Riley. But they would be so glad to have been wrong. Because this, this thing they were about to become, this was better than they could've hoped for already, and it had only been a few hours.

 **A/N: I detest that 'Maya turning into Riley' plot line crap they tried to give us so I fixed it lol**

 **To Blondie103 thank you for your offer to exchange ideas! I would love to! Message me:) I have an idea for a F.R.I.E.N.D.S inspired multi-chapter I would love to bounce ideas off of you for!**

 **Thank you everyone still reading! I will keep updating until all of us Lucaya shippers are dead… we deserve this lol Love you guys!**


	17. We Go Way Back

**A/N: Just a quick one! Actually that's a lie… this is really long…. Lol Enjoy!**

 **This is my first song-fic also:)**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Maya is 23, Lucas is 24._

 _Summary: Loosely inspired by the song "Way Back" by Brantley Gilbert; Lucas comes back to NYC after years of being in Texas but now he's back revisiting his old flame Maya._

We Go Way Back

Lucas made his way through the airport towards baggage claim. It was early afternoon here in New York City and he had just gotten in on an early morning flight from Texas. A year had passed since he had been back here in the city, since he had seen his friends or his parents.

A year had passed since he had seen _her_.

He rounded the corner to see the rotating baggage carriers and walked to the one that had his flight's belongings on it. Standing towards the beginning of the bag claim, he waited for his bag to show itself while he looked through his phone to see the messages he missed while his phone was on 'airplane mode.' It was just a bunch of texts from his mom saying how excited she was that he was coming back, a couple from Zay basically saying the same thing, one from Pappy Joe asking if he got in ok, and even one text from Riley. None of the messages were from Maya. It's not like he was expecting one. He hadn't even actually told her that he was coming in for a few days. He assumed she knew, of course. Everyone else knew; his mom, Farkle, Zay, even Riley. And if Riley knew, he knew damn well Maya knew. But he didn't expect a text from her.

His bag was the last to roll through baggage claim. He picked it up and hurled it over his shoulder, making his way to where the taxis picked up passengers. Looking up briefly from sending his mom a text saying he was about to get in a cab, he heard his name being called.

"Lucas!"

Lucas whipped his head around to see a tiny blonde woman waving at him. "Mom? What are you doing here?" he said, making his way over to her.

"My only son is coming home for the first time in a year! Did you think I wouldn't pick him up from the airport?" she squealed, wrapping her arms around him. Lucas was just as excited to see his mom, he was always close with his mom. Her arms wouldn't even wrap all the way around him, they never could. They reminded him of Maya, but he pushed that out of his head quick. "Come on! Get in the car! I want to hear all about Texas and I was going to make us lunch."

Lucas smiled and did as he was told, throwing his bags in the bag of the silver SUV. There was a lot of traffic on the way back to his parent's home. He had expected to be hounded with questions about Texas and his job, but he guessed his mom was saving that for later because she just kept going on and on herself. With the most thrilled tone of voice, Madison Friar told Lucas all about everyone he had left back in New York. She talked about his father and his company and how he was going to open up a new department in California. "We might be moving there! But we haven't decided yet," Madison told her son. She described all the renovations they had done to the apartment over the past year while she was currently going through an interior design phase. Lucas chuckled to himself when he heard that, thinking about all the times when his dad would text him saying he just wished his wife would stop watching HGTV.

Even Zay's current accomplishments were being spewed from the woman's mouth. Of course Lucas already knew about all that Zay was doing, that was his best friend after all. But Lucas just let his mom go on about the boy with pride. Madison considered Zay one of her own, since she had known him since he was 7 years old.

When the mother and son were just a couple of blocks away from the Friar residence, Madison slowly turned her head to her son. "You know I saw Maya the other day. She's not seeing anybody," she spoke, her voice careful.

"Is that so, mom?" Lucas asked, a smirk on his lips. One thing about Madison Friar is that she loves Maya Hart. Even before she and Lucas officially started dating, Madison always invited her over for dinner and talked about her to Lucas. The day their relationship started, Madison was swooning. And after Lucas left for college in Texas, Madison actually really comforted Maya. They were still close even though Maya wasn't dating her son anymore.

"Aren't you going to see her while you're here?" a hopeful Madison asked.

Lucas shrugged. Did he want to see that tiny blonde that made his heart pound harder? More than anything. But after all this time, it would just be too hard. "I don't know mom."

"Why wouldn't-"

"Mom! I don't want to talk about it ok? I might see her and I might not. If I have time I guess," Lucas shrugged again. Luckily, Madison caught the hint that Lucas did not want to talk about this. With even more luck, the car pulled up to the curb in front of the impressive townhome in the heart of Greenwich Village. Lucas grabbed his bags and followed his mother inside, who immediately went into the kitchen to start on lunch. Then the questions started. _'So how's Texas?' 'Tell me all about work!' 'How's the family?' 'Do you get to visit the farm often?' 'Do you still like your apartment?'_

Lucas laughed and answered each question the best he could while watching his mom make his favorite BLT sandwiches for lunch. A BLT sandwich didn't sound like much but his mom something to them that made them spectacular.

"God I missed your cooking mom!" he exclaimed when he finally got a taste of the sandwich in front of him. A ding from his phone on the counter pulled him out of his food orgasm.

 _From Zay:_

 _I know you're probably with you mom! But do you have some time to meet up with me and Farks tonight?_

 _To: Zay_

 _Boys night later?_

 _From: Zay_

 _Hell yeah man!_

"So everything is good in Texas?" Lucas's mom suddenly asked. He could sense a suspicious tone in her voice and he knew exactly what she was trying to hint at.

"Yes mom, everything is going well. Work, the family, the apartment, everything is fine," Lucas smiled, not bringing up the topic his mom was waiting for him to bring up. She didn't bring it up either, in fear of upsetting her son. She was happy he was home, even if just for a few days.

A while later, after a bit more time with his mom, Lucas showered off the feeling of being on a plane for 4 hours and changed for his long awaited guy's night. Back when he lived in New York, years ago, he could take the subway like nothing. He knew how to get anywhere. Maya had taught him that. 'You're not a true New Yorker until you know the entire New York City subway map," she would say. But no, after getting very used to driving all around Texas, he had lost his touch with the subway. To avoid getting lost, he borrowed his mom's car for the night and met Farkle and Zay at a hip new bar in downtown Manhattan.

"Lucas!" Zay yelled when he saw his blonde best friend walk into the bar. "It's been too long buddy!" Lucas agreed, wrapping his arms around the excited man in front of him. A year was far too long to not see your best friend. This was the longest he had ever been away from New York after he left for college.

"Hey freak face!" Farkle exclaimed, taking his turn to move in for a hug.

"God guys, it really has been too long. I miss you guys. How about I get us a round of beers on me?" Lucas suggested.

The boys took their seats in a booth to the side of the bar. Just a couple minutes later, Lucas came back with 3 beers in his hands. Setting them down and taking his seat, Zay leaned over and tackled him with yet another hug.

"I missed you so much man!" he cried. Farkle rolled his eyes across the table, knowing how much Zay missed Lucas. He talked about the cowboy all the time, especially in the last few days while they were anxiously waiting for Lucas to come visit New York.

"I miss you, too, Zay. Both of you," Lucas smiled.

"So why the visit?" Farkle wondered out loud, taking a sip of his beer. Lucas hadn't told anyone why he was coming back to the city. It's not like anyone cared enough to ask, they were just thrilled they got to see him.

Lucas shrugged his shouldered, taking a longer than necessary sip of his own beer. "I just have some work stuff to do tomorrow here in the city that's all," he answered. Changing the topic, he asked Farkle how it was going with his dad's company. Farkle and his dad had recently become official partners in the company and Farkle was over the moon.

The boys caught up, laughed, and had a few more beers, except for Lucas since he had taken the car here and had to drive back to his parent's place. This felt right to Lucas, being here with these two. He had friends in Texas that he hung out with. He had a lot of friends. But it was nothing like this. These were his people, and he missed his people.

"So Lucas," Zay said towards the end of the night, "Riley told me that Maya is free while you're here."

"Why is it that everyone just wants to talk about Maya?" Lucas asked with a laugh.

"Don't act like the first thing you want to talk about isn't Maya," Farkle called him out. The boys laughed, but Lucas's face suddenly settled with seriousness. "You didn't tell Maya you were coming."

Honestly, Lucas should've known that his friends, and even his mom, were going to bring up Maya. He should've known that he couldn't just come into the city for a few days without being tempted by everyone and everything to go and see her. "I can't see her," he mournfully said to Farkle.

"How could you not want to see her? You always visit her when you come. After everything you've been through-" Zay whined.

"It's too hard, guys. It's too hard to see her and say goodbye all over again. I know we've been through a lot. Me and her, we go way back," Lucas reminisced. The men around the table snickered knowing that was all an understatement. In reality, those two were each other's first everything. Their first real relationship, their first 'I love you', their _first time_ ; all of it was each other. "But it's too hard to see her and then 24 hours later I have to leave her again. It gets harder and harder each time. And I know it's hard for her, too."

Farkle and Zay had to admit they knew it must be hard for the two blondes. They were inseparable since their relationship became official during the beginning of their sophomore year of high school. No one was surprised when they got together. They could all see how they looked at each other and talked to each other and how they talked _about_ each other. It was the hardest decision Lucas ever had to make when he decided to go to Texas for college on the football scholarship he was offered. With Maya staying in the city for college with the rest of his friends, he didn't know if he could leave. 'You have to go, Lucas. It's your dream and this is your shot to make it happen. We'll be fine. You'll come back.' That's what Maya said as they sat in his bed on the day he had to make his final decision about whether or not he would take his scholarship. And that's what they thought, until Lucas was offered a great job at a vet clinic in Texas two years into college. When Lucas first left, Maya was a mess. And when he said he was staying in Texas, she was an even bigger mess. If you asked Lucas, he wouldn't even try to hide the fact that he was a total mess too.

"So you're just not going to see her?" Farkle asked. He was understanding of course, but he could just never wrap his head around the idea of Maya and Lucas not being together, even though it had been almost 5 years since their breakup right before he left.

"It's too hard, Farkle. I think this is best for both of us right now,"" Lucas shrugged, finishing off his beer.

Zay leaned over to Lucas's ear with a smirk. "Maybe what's best for both of you is that you move back," he whispered.

"Maybe I'm working on it. Look, can we not talk about this anymore?" Lucas begged his friends. The temptation was getting too much for him.

"Yes," Zay sighed, before turning slowly back to his friend. "But can I say something first?" Lucas glared at his best friend, at first wanting to tell him to drop it. But he could see the sincere desire to help in his eyes. So Lucas nodded his head. "I think you'll regret it if you don't see her. I know it's hard to see her and then leave, but I think it will be harder to not see her and then leave."

Those words stuck with Lucas more than he would like to admit. They haunted his brain the entire silent drive back to his parent's place. The only reason he was able to concentrate on driving so heavily was because he knew that if he didn't, he would turn the car down just the right street that would take him right to Maya's SoHo apartment.

All night, lying in bed, Lucas thought about Maya and the words Zay had said. At least when he did visit Maya, he would have a short time of release from his heavy thoughts and sad feelings about missing everyone here in New York. Not seeing her was already harder than if he had just seen her. On any other trip, she was the first person he saw. Right now, then she would at least be in his arms, the moonlight hitting her face just right. His brain racked with conflicting thoughts, he realized his alarm was going to go off in just 5 short hours. He forced himself to sleep and to forget for a while.

The morning brought a distraction in the form of a work matter. But the afternoon, the free afternoon brought him nothing but thoughts of Maya.

 _From: Riles_

 _She wants to see you….!_

That text that he stared at for minutes, that was all it took. He changed out of the professional clothes that up until now he was too lazy to change out of and raced to the neighborhood Maya lived in. It was a neighborhood that back in high school she always loved taking walks through and taking pictures in. He was so proud of her that she was able to call it home now. Before he knew it, he was knocking on the door of her apartment. It was beginning to occur to him that he didn't even know if Maya was there. But then the door flew open and a mess of wavy blonde hair appeared.

"Hey," Lucas croaked, looking at the girl in front of his face.

"Hi," she whispered back, her voice not being able to grow any louder in her shock. After she hadn't heard from him, she assumed he wouldn't stop by. She knew why. She knew it would be too hard for both of them if he did, but she couldn't help but hope he would show up.

Neither blonde spoke, both of them barely flinched. They just stared at each other. It wasn't awkward though, even in the silence. For so long they were both hoping the other would show up at their door. For too long they had to miss each other and only see each other in the pictures they had up everywhere and in old videos that were still saved on their phones. They talked on the phone a lot and texted almost every day, but they always refused FaceTime, knowing that would be too hard. It was like both blondes were waiting for the person in front of them to fade away. With the time they had, they just looked. Maya looked into those green eyes like her life depended on it. And Lucas took in every inch of Maya. How her long hair fell over shoulders and her eyes sparkled so blue and her pink lips were parted as she tried to find words. Then suddenly, instead of words coming out, a grin appeared. Growing and growing until it was from ear to ear. Maya let out a small giddy giggle before stepping out the door and crashing into Lucas, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, ready to pull him back if he tried to go anywhere. Going anywhere was not part of his plan. He tightened his arms around her waist to hold her in place and took in her warmth like a drug. He lifted her off her feet and heard her laugh as she wrapped her legs around his waist, tightening her hold on him.

"I can't believe you're here!" she chimed into his ear, her head not wanting to move from the crook of his neck. She pulled back to look in his green eyes once more, cupping his smooth cheeks in her small hands. "I missed my cowboy."

"Trust me, he missed you," Lucas smiled.

He marched into her apartment and into the bedroom. They didn't even have to think about it. Their lips found their way to each other like they knew their way home. Clothes were flung to the ground without a care, the need to be closer growing in each of their stomachs. Maya's body shook with anticipation and the feeling of Lucas's hands running down the length of her hair and his fingers grazing her chest. She recognized this feeling she had now. This safety, this content with the world, this was a feeling she only got with Lucas.

Zay was right. It would hurt so much more not seeing Maya. Because the way Lucas was feeling right now, he would never regret coming to her apartment and knocking on her door. This feeling he had right now in this moment, this girl in his arms, the sounds she made in his ear, all of it was worth more to him than anything. So as much as it would hurt to leave, this was worth it.

Hours passed with the two just lying in bed. The blue cotton shirt that Lucas had shown up in was draped over Maya's frame, her head on his chest. "How long are you here for?" Maya's quiet voice asked.

"I leave tomorrow," he answered. If he could've chosen to not answer, then he wouldn't have. He knew what would happen. Maya pulled up from the hold of his arms and turned her head away to no doubt shield tears. "Maya," Lucas said, pleading Maya to look at him. He picked his fingers up to her arm, stroking the soft skin. The girl turned her pink eyes to look at Lucas. "I miss you."

It was a simple statement. But saying anything other than that would make both of them break down, especially knowing he left the next day. But Maya knew all the words and feelings that were behind it. "I know," she said, plastering a weak smile on her face. She wiped away the wetness in her eyes, laughing when she felt Lucas's gentle touch help her. "Come on! Let's go eat in the kitchen," she smiled, pulling the cowboy out of the bed.

It was like nothing was different when Lucas and Maya were making food. It was mostly Maya making grilled cheese sandwiches while making jokes and Lucas watching her from behind the counter laughing at everything she said. Even though Lucas's mom was an amazing cook, Lucas couldn't even cook toast. Maya teased him for it all the time, but his mom did love that Maya's picked up on all the cooking techniques really fast.

"So you're mom told me you haven't been seeing anybody down in Texas," Maya pondered to Lucas while scooping the last sandwich out of the skillet onto a plate.

"Nope," he said plainly. He watched Maya she raised her eyebrows, clearly overthinking the response he had just given her. She went to go sit on the couch while Lucas kept his place at the counter.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why what?"

"Why haven't you been dating?" Maya asked, avoiding eye contact, as much as it killed her having to look anywhere other than those green eyes knowing after tomorrow it would be another long wait before they were in front of her again.

This was a topic they had actually never discussed. Them dating other people while Lucas was gone. They both wanted to bring it up, but maybe they just didn't want to hear the other say they were dating. Neither wanted to give the other 'permission' to date other people. They knew they were adults and they didn't need permission, but it felt weird to think of the other person with anyone else.

But 5 years is a long time to not date because you're too busy thinking about someone else who lives hundreds of miles away. So maybe this painful talk had to happen. They always knew they would have it sooner or later.

"Do you want me to be dating other people?" Lucas asked, a little afraid of the answer.

"No of course not! But that's selfish. And it's been 5 years since we broke up Lucas. I know we didn't break up because we didn't love each other anymore, but… still. 5 years is a long time," Maya rambled.

Lucas could hear the hurt in her voice, thinking of him actually being with any other girl like he had just been with her. "Maybe there's just no one interested," he shrugged.

"Oh please, Huckleberry," Maya laughed. "Mr. I'm a super cute animal doctor who's funny and sweet moral compass Friar doesn't have anyone interested in him? You think I'm stupid enough to believe that?" A smirk sat her lips as Lucas blushed. Yes of course there were girls throwing themselves at him, especially back in college when he was a star football player. He had no interest. In the past couple of years, he had gone on dates, even kissed women, but it never went past a second date and a kiss. He was too hung up on Maya.

"And what about you, Shortstack? I heard you haven't been seeing anyone either," he grinned.

"Maybe there's no one interested," Maya teased by repeated his response to her. Again, she had men who were interested. But she rarely said yes, even though her friends constantly tried to urge her to try to move on.

Lucas believed that as much as Maya believed it when he said it. "Oh come on. You're telling me a sexy as hell, beautiful, funny, smart woman like you doesn't have guys falling from trees to take her on a date?"

The small grin Maya had on her face previously disappeared and was replaced by a large, full-fledged smile. "I always like your version of me the best," she blushed.

Her grin was infectious to Lucas. He felt a charmed smile grow on his own face just looking at her. But then his brain betrayed him, reminding him that soon, he would have to be without that smile again. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was coming to the city," he apologized. Maya's grin diminished as well.

"It's ok. I get it," she soothed. Her blue eyes turned away from the cowboy and moved down to her hands in her lap. "To be honest, half of me was hoping you wouldn't come here. To my apartment," she admitted.

"Too hard?" Lucas asked, knowing she was feeling the same aching hurt that he was feeling. The blonde on the couch nodded her head. "I wasn't sure if I was going to come."

"What made you come?"

Lucas thought back to Zay's words from the night before. "I just figured as hard as it is to see you and leave, not seeing you would be 100 times worse," he said, taking credit for Zay's thinking.

The two didn't want to think about it anymore. Lucas made his way to the couch, laying soft kisses on Maya's skin, tickling her with his lips. She told him to stop, but the soft, giggling laughter coming from her made him keep going. They had the whole day to spend together, just the two of them. They agreed on no mentioning of the fact that Lucas was leaving tomorrow. Upon a pinky promise, reminding them of old times, Maya dragged the cowboy off to the shower. Maya changed as Lucas slipped on the same clothes he came over in since he didn't have any here, except for the one t-shirt that Maya refused to admit she still had in her drawer.

Hand in hand, like nothing had changed, the two walked through the city. Maya showed him all the things in the city that had changed over the past year, they got ice cream at Lucas's favorite ice cream place, and tacos at Maya's favorite Mexican place. Lucas refused to keep his hands off of the small blonde the whole day, not that Maya wanted him to. She held him just as close as Lucas held her. It's not like those two ever knew what personal space was. He stayed the night as Maya's that night, earning no surprise from his mom when he texted her to tell her he would be back in time the next day to gather his stuff and catch his flight back to Texas.

When the two blondes fell asleep, it was easy. It was old times, like nothing had changed. Suddenly they were 17 again and falling asleep in each other's arms. Maya had covered herself in only Lucas's blue flannel her had worn over his shirt that day. Falling asleep was easy.

Waking up was hard.

Waking up brought them the realization that today they would say goodbye again. It got became easy, it only got harder. They stayed in bed as long as they could, not wanting to get up and face reality. But as the clock was striking afternoon, Lucas reluctantly had to get up, knowing he had to catch his plane. Maya sat on the bed, her face solemn, not trying to hide her emotions. She watched Lucas as he slid his legs into his jeans, his face just as solemn as hers.

"What time is your flight?" she asked.

"Not until 4. But I have to get to the airport early to get through security,' he answered, not looking at her. When he finally did turn to look at her, her face brought him nothing but heartbreak. His feet carried him across the room and knelt by the bedside in front of Maya. "Hey it's going to be ok," he tried to sooth her.

"How? Lucas you're leaving. How is any of this going to be ok?" she cried, a couple tears falling from her eyes before she realized and wiped them away.

"I promise, I won't wait a year to come back this time."

Maya scoffed, her sad eyes turning away from the blonde. "It's just going to be the same thing Lucas. You'll come, we'll be together, and then you'll leave," Maya pointed out. Lucas didn't know what to say. He knew the bitter words coming out of her mouth were right. No matter how quickly he came back, he knew it would be the same. They wouldn't be _together_. Not really. Moving his body to sit up on the bed next to the crying blonde, he stroked his hand through her hair.

"We have to say goodbye. And I know it sucks. Trust me, I know," he frowned, knowing what she was going through. Maya turned to look into his green eyes. "But let's make this a good goodbye?"

Maya wanted to argue and cry more. She wanted to say there was no such thing as a 'good goodbye' in this situation because she would always be sad and even a little bit angry when he left. But he was right. They did have to say goodbye, they couldn't avoid it. All those years ago, it was Maya who told him to go to Texas. She convinced him it was best for _him_ , even if it doomed _them_. So this was their situation and they had to deal with the consequences as best they could. She nodded her head and let him place a kiss on her cheek.

At the door, Maya's arms clung around his body, holding his lips to hers. Maybe the kiss lasted longer than either of them meant it to. But anytime they tried to pull their lips away, the other would pull their mouth closer. During one cursed moment, both pulled away for air at the same time and neither at the strength to pull back in. Maya's eyes were bright pink, ready to start bawling as soon as Lucas walked out that door.

"I love you," Maya whimpered.

"I always love you the most, Shortstack," Lucas whispered, pulling her forehead in for a kiss. "I'll call you when I get back to Texas, ok?"

Maya nodded, even though she didn't know if it would make her feel better or worse to hear his voice again that soon over the phone. With that, Lucas walked out the door. He trudged back to his parent's place, a deep sigh taking over his handsome face the whole time. His dad was home when he got back and gave his son a warm welcome. Lucas tried to greet his father the best he could, but walked off to the guest room saying he had to pack all his things back up. He could hear his mom whisper to her husband that Lucas had just been with Maya, an excuse for his less than joyful attitude.

"Lucas honey, are you ready?" Madison Friar asked a while later when it was time to leave for the airport.

Lucas had his back to the door, slowly folding his last shirt back into his bag. "Yeah mom. I'll be right there," he said with no emotion. His mom was about to speak, but changed her mind knowing not much could help him feel better right now. Lucas stepped out into the living room minutes later, bags in his hand.

"Ready son?" his dad asked. Lucas just nodded his head. Just as his mom was picking up the car keys, Lucas felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He checked it, thinking it might be Zay or even Maya. Instead it was a text he was waiting for, a text he was hoping he would get. A huge smile appeared on his face and before his dad could ask about it, Lucas dropped his bags to the floor.

"Mom, dad, I have to go! I have to go do something!" he burst, making his way to the door.

"Lucas! What about your flight?" his mom asked, confused.

Lucas shook his head, his face still beaming. "I'll be back in time! And if I'm not I'll book a later flight! I just- I have to go do this!" His parents were left confused with no more words from their son as he left through the door. He took off running once he was on the street. The familiar direction in his eye line, he felt too much adrenaline to take the subway. His feet carried him without hesitation until he arrived at the door he had just left an hour ago. He knocked repeatedly until the blonde he had just left opened the door, her eyes still pink and his flannel still hanging from her frame.

"Lucas? What are you doing? I thought you had to catch your flight?" she asked.

Lucas stood in front of her gasping for air, finally feeling the tiredness from the run over there. "I had-I had to tell you something," he panted.

Maya just let out a deep sigh. "Lucas… it was hard enough to say goodbye the first time. Please don't make me do it again," she begged. She hadn't yet taken notice of the tiny microscopic grin trying to form on Lucas's lips.

"Then let's not say goodbye," Lucas spoke.

"What are you talking about?"

"The reason I came into the city these past few days was because I had a job interview. It's a better position, better pay, and…," he explained, taking a small pause before he finished his sentence, saving the best reason for last, "it's in the same city you're in."

Frozen, Maya tried to process what he was saying. "What-what are you saying?" she asked in a voice so tiny, it almost audible.

"The guy I interviewed with, he just texted me. I got the job," Lucas smiled.

It took a moment for Maya to speak. Lucas waited, because when she finally figured out what he was trying to tell her, the look on her face would be worth it. "So… you're-you're…" she stuttered.

Lucas just nodded, answering the question he knew she was trying so hard to ask. "I'm moving back," he said simply. Before the words even finished leaving his mouth, Maya had closed the space between them to wrap Lucas in a tight hug. Like he had done countless times before, Lucas lifted the weightless girl fully into his arms, letting her wrap her legs around him. A deep kiss, one like neither had felt before, crushed their lips.

"You're coming back to me, Ranger Rick? For good?" Maya asked when they pulled their lips apart.

"Yeah, Shortstack," Lucas smiled. "No more goodbyes."

Now they only had 'I'll see you later.'

 **A/N: I started this a few days ago but then I got sick and have not felt like doing anything except sleeping lol But I feel better today and I had some time before work so I figured I would finish this! I hope you guys enjoyed!**

 **Review review review! I love hearing about how you guys are liking the stories!**


	18. Inconclusive Tests

**A/N: I have just been getting so much one-shot inspo lately! Hope you guys like this one:)**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: Senior year of high school._

 _Summary: Maya and Lucas have a little too much fun at a party, but could it come back to haunt them? Or will it only bring them closer?_

Inconclusive Tests

Almost 3 weeks had gone by since Missy Bradford's huge mid senior year party. Maya was there. Lucas was there. They both drank way more than they would like to admit. Shameless flirting and laughter filled the air around them while they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. They had been flirting non-stop for the past few weeks but neither had made a real move. But that night they were too drunk to care.

Maybe a little bit too drunk because by the end of the night, they found themselves in bed together, clothes on the floor. Maya woke up first the next morning in a hungover shock to find Lucas naked next to her. They could only guess what happened because, to be honest, neither remembered much. They remembered enough though.

Maya remembered her hand on Lucas's chest, fiddling with the buttons on the top of his shirt. She remembers running her hand through his short hair repeatedly. Most of all, Maya remembers the moment when he lowered his lips to cover hers.

Lucas remembers his own moments, like his own hands gripping Maya's ass to pull her closer to him and Maya's breathe on his ear when she whispered close in his ear in the loud party atmosphere. The moment when Maya's hand slid into his and led him down the hallway to an empty bedroom, that he remembers too.

But the morning after brought a different type of behavior. The two didn't know how to act around each other now. They had had sex before they even went on a real date! The two, usually so comfortable and open around each other, now didn't know how to talk to each other or be around each other. It was awkward for them to even look at each other. So for 3 weeks after the party, they kept their distance, kept their words to a minimum when they were forced to be around each other. But one Wednesday, in the middle of the day, Maya approached Lucas with an uneasy look on her face.

"Hey," she spoke. Lucas swung around to face her, looking confused. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Lucas failed to notice the shaky, cracking low voice Maya carried. His face turned annoyed suddenly, and his voice matched. "Are you sure? You've been avoiding me for weeks now," he grunted to her. Maya became defensive, suddenly forgetting her nervous attitude from just seconds ago.

"Shut up Huckleberry! I might be avoiding you, but you are the one that is all awkward and quiet whenever we're around each other!" she said with a raised voice. The hallway was full of passing students, most of whom were staring at the pair of pissed teens. But Maya and Lucas couldn't care. Especially Maya, who had other things on her mind.

"You know what? I-" Lucas started, but Maya put up her hands, signaling him to stop.

"Lucas! Can we just stop please! I really, really need to talk to you!" she yelled. Her breathing sped up, her heart beating faster remembering what it was she needed to talk to Lucas about. "It's really important."

Lucas was about to raise his voice again, the anger inside him threatening to boil over. But then he caught sight of the terrified look in the blonde's eyes in front of him. It almost looked like tears were about to spill over the edge. He wasn't expecting that. He couldn't think of a reason why she would be crying right now, it's not like they were fighting that badly. A wave of worry washed away his anger as he saw her so upset, maybe even scared. He suddenly felt very protective, which wasn't a new thing for Lucas, especially when it came to this girl.

"Maya, what's wrong?" he asked.

Maya looked around, seeing all the other students still walking around them, making their way to their next classes. "Can we talk somewhere private please?" she requested, her voice returning to its previous low, cracking state.

Lucas nodded, his hand landing on the small of her back to lead her somewhere private like she requested. Even after the two heard the bell signaling the beginning of the next period ring, they kept walking like they had heard nothing. The halls were empty, just them. But with the fear of being caught in the halls in the middle of what seemed to be an important conversation, Lucas led Maya out the back doors of the school. They walked all the way across the football field until they reached the stands. Lucas guided Maya to the middle of the stands, just in the front row and gestured for her to sit down.

The blonde girl's leg bounced up and down, showing her nerves. Lucas was dying to know what it was that was making her so nervous. But he didn't want to rush her. So he sat in the deafening silence while Maya gathered her words, and as much strength as she could, to tell him.

"I missed a period," she said out of the blue. Lucas looked up at her, but her eyes seemed glued in front of her, just staring out at the empty football field.

"Wh-what- what do you mean you missed a period," he asked.

"I mean I was supposed to start my period 4 days ago, Lucas, and I didn't!" she cried. As if she had too much adrenaline to stay seated, Maya jumped up from her seat. She paced in front of Lucas, who seemed to not even be able to look at Maya with this news in place. His eyes stayed on the ground at his feet while Maya talked. "I missed my period, I barfed up my breakfast this morning, I've been feeling tired all week, I-"

"Maya!" Lucas suddenly burst, looking up at her. Her pacing stopped with the surprise sound of his voice. "What are you saying?"

Maya's solemn face stared into those green eyes to find Lucas already knew the answer to his own question. He was just as scared as she so clearly was. "I think I might be pregnant," she finally said, destroying any hope Lucas had that he might be wrong on where she was going with her rant.

There was a long silence following the realization. Neither knew what to say. Lucas was still trying to process; hell, Maya was still trying to process. They were only 17 and 18. Neither could imagine being parents right now. They were graduating soon; both had already been accepted into college; Maya had an internship lined up at an art gallery downtown. They weren't even actually dating. Having a baby right now scared the crap out of both of them.

"Have you taken a test?" Lucas asked, breaking the silence.

"Not yet," she admitted. She reclaimed her seat on the bleacher next to Lucas. "I was too scared to take it by myself."

Lucas could understand that. He's grateful she didn't take the test yet actually, he wants to be there for her. "Then you won't take it by yourself," he said, turning his body fully to face her. The sad little face looked back up at him as she sniffled. "Right now, you and I are going to buy a test and then I'm going to stay with you while you take it."

"What if I am pregnant, Lucas? We're still in high school! We can't have a baby," Maya practically cried.

A gust of wind blew Maya's hair in her face and Lucas pushed a strand back behind her ear, letting his hand linger for a minute in the gold layers. "Then we will handle that when we get to it, alright? But let's just take the test and we will go from there," Lucas comforted. Maya nodded weakly.

The teens rose from their seats and walked out of the bleachers. Lucas offered Maya a hand to walk down the steep steps down to the grass, but to Maya's joy, he didn't let go even after he feet touched the ground. Hand in hand, the two rode a subway to Lucas's neighborhood. Inside of a little convenience store, Maya and Lucas hovered in the aisle that housed the pregnancy tests. Why were there so many brands of pregnancy tests? They all looked the same, they all did the same thing. Lucas looked across the aisle in shock. He didn't even know which one to pick up and look at first, much less which one to buy. Maya kept having one internal freak out after another, thinking about how she was supposed to be someone's mother when she couldn't even pick a pregnancy test. Finally, Lucas just figured the most expensive one was probably the best. This didn't seem like something to skimp on.

When Maya set the test on the counter in the front of the store, she couldn't even look up at the cashier. Even with her head down, Maya could feel the judging eyes of the older cashier looking down on her. They were just two teenagers buying a pregnancy test because they were too drunk to keep their hands off of each other or at least put on a stupid condom. Lucas could see that Maya was uncomfortable so he handled the transaction, taking the bag in his hand when it was over. Without realizing, Maya grasped onto Lucas's strong hand when they turned away from the register counter. It brought her so much calm and peace to have his hand in hers.

Lucas's home was only a block away from the tiny store. The two walked slow, almost strolled through the street. For all they knew, this was the last time they would be two free teenagers with no baby.

"Your mom's not home?" Maya asked when they finally walked through the door of Lucas's apartment. She had met Lucas's mom several times before. In fact, Mrs. Friar loved the tiny blonde. But Maya knew the woman didn't work and was generally home during the day. The apartment was quiet, still, like no one was there.

"Nope. She's in Texas for a few days while my aunt recovers from a surgery. It's just me and my dad, but he won't be home until late," he explained.

Maya nodded and eyed the bag that Lucas was still holding. Slowly, he pulled out the item it was holding. Both eyed it like it could change their lives, then they realized it could. Lucas held it out to Maya. Nothing happened. She didn't reach for it, she didn't care to. But her arm suddenly reached out and grabbed it, folding it around in her hands. Together, Lucas and Maya walked to the bathroom, stopping at the door.

"I'm going to stay right out here ok?" Lucas stated. Maya couldn't speak. Words tried to come out but she found that her throat was too dry to get any words out. So she settled for nodding.

She disappeared into the bathroom. Outside the door, Lucas leaned his head to the wall and closed his eyes. Maya couldn't understand how he was so calm and level-headed. But unknown to her, he was a nervous wreck. He was trying his hardest to be strong for Maya, he knew she was terrified and was one wrong step away from completely breaking down in tears. So he kept his head on straight, and was working overtime to do it. Now, in his brief moment of privacy, he didn't stop his heart from racing. He might be a father. Of course he wanted kids. But some day, not now when he was 18 years old. He couldn't help but feel like sleeping together had ruined everything. They hadn't even really talked in almost three weeks. They used to talk almost nonstop every day. Now, it was weird and Maya could be pregnant. Did he regret sleeping with her? No. Not completely. But he does regret how it happened, _that_ he regrets.

He was pulled out of his inner panic by the bathroom door opening. Maya stepped out, not looking any less worried than she did when she went in. "So? What happened?" Lucas asked.

"We have to wait 3 minutes for the test to show the results," Maya said, sliding down the wall until she sat on the floor. Lucas was quick to join her, wrapping his hand around hers.

"I know you said we would talk about it when we get to it, but what if I _am_ pregnant, Lucas? I can't raise a baby," Maya's shaky voice said.

"We'll you're not doing it alone. I'll be here. We will raise this baby together," he said. Those words were meant to comfort her, bring her some security that she wasn't going to be alone. But he saw her face twist with an undefinable expression.

"I don't want you to feel like you have to stay with me just because it's your baby. Your life doesn't have to be all messed up too," she sniffled.

Every word coming out of her mouth was ridiculous.

Lucas turned his body full to look at her. His fingers lightly cupped her cheek to turn her face to him. A glassy overlay sat on top of the surface of her blue eyes, threatening to turn to tears. Not on his watch.

"Maya I want you to listen to me very carefully. I am not your father. So if that's where this is coming from, you need to get that out of your head now. I'm not going anywhere," his voice said, strong and firm as ever. "And our lives aren't messed up. I mean, different. Way different than either of us thought our lives would be, but that doesn't mean it's messed up."

"We're not even together, Lucas." Maya felt like it was an important fact to remind him of. But Lucas didn't seem phased.

"We could be," Lucas said. As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt the tiny blonde tighten her hold on his hand. "We could be together, if you want us to be." Maya didn't know what to say. Actually, she knew exactly what she wanted to say. But right now, in this moment, so many other thoughts occupied her brain that she couldn't really handle the words coming out of the cowboy's mouth. "I still want us to be," he added after a while, as if he spent time to build up courage to say that to her.

Just as Maya was about to get some type of words out, her phone rang out through the room. Both she and Lucas looked over at it to see it as an alarm going off.

"It's been 3 minutes," Maya whispered, even though Lucas already knew what was going on. After a moment of sitting still, not flinching an inch, the two stood up.

They walked slowly into the bathroom. Both were very aware of how this next moment could change their lives completely. And once they looked at the stick and saw the answer, they couldn't un-see it. It would be their new reality that they would have to deal with, as scared as they were. Maya reached forward and picked up the stick when she finally started to think that the suspense of not knowing seemed worse than knowing. Lucas loomed over her shoulder and got stricken with the same confusion Maya was stuck with. On the stick, a little window was supposed to say either 'pregnant' or 'not pregnant.' But on the stick in Maya's hand, the little window had a bold as day word 'pregnant' and a faded, barely there 'not' in front of it.

"What does this say?" Maya asked. Lucas reached over to grab the stick and get a closer look.

"I don't know," he said, squinting for whatever reason to see if maybe the 'not' in front of 'pregnant' would get darker.

"Well what the hell? Am I pregnant or not?" Maya's voice was loud and angry. More frustrated than anything else. After all it took to gather enough strength to take the test and look at it now, and the stupid window couldn't decide if it wanted the most important word there or not.

Lucas gave up looking at the test. Nothing was changing. He threw onto the counter and looked at Maya. "I don't know," he repeated, his voice showing frustration as well. "It's inconclusive."

A loud groan came from Maya. She rested her elbows on the sink counter and lowered her head into her hands. Lucas didn't have to see her face to know that at least a couple tears were making their way out of her eyes. This whole thing was becoming increasingly overwhelming. "Why is this so god-damn hard!?" Maya moaned.

"Maya it's ok! Look we'll go to the store, we'll get another test, and we'll just take it again," Lucas consoled her, desperate to calm her down in any way he could. Maya's head came out of her hands and she looked up at the boy she knew was trying so hard.

"No," she refused, shaking her head. "No this is too nerve wracking. We need to go and get one of those super accurate, blood pregnancy tests. At the doctor's office," Maya suggested. "It's the only way we'll be sure."

Lucas couldn't say no to her. Sure it would be way easier to just go back down the street and get another home pregnancy test, but Maya was right, they needed to be sure. And after the last test, he wasn't sure he couldn't even trust a home test if it had a solid answer on it. So the teens made their way across town, ignoring calls and texts from their friends back at school asking where they had gone and why they weren't in class.

The thoughts of their friends and school went away when they walked through the door of the doctor's office. They were greeted by the perky front desk girl who kept smiling sincerely while Maya's shaky voice told her she needed a pregnancy test done. It wasn't just her voice that was shaking, but her hands were too. Lucas helped her by filling out the information on the clipboard that the front desk girl required. It felt like a decade before they called the blonde's back to get the test done. The doctor asked several questions, mostly about Maya's health and her sexual history. _'It's going to be ok.'_ Lucas kept having to whisper it to her whenever he felt her hand tense up inside of his. Finally the nurse came in to get the sample for the test. At least that part felt quick.

"It's going to be a couple hours for the lab to get the results back. But we'll give you a call as soon as we know, ok?" the doctor explained right before the two blondes left the office.

Lucas wasn't hungry, but he asked Maya if she was. It surprised him to see her shake her head no. Honestly, she felt like she couldn't keep anything down if she tried. There was way too much adrenaline running through her. Once they arrived back at Lucas's place, Maya didn't wait for an invitation to wander straight off to Lucas's room. Her shoes were discarded to the floor and she curled into a little ball on top of the covers. Lucas stood back in the doorway and watched as she tried to take deep breathes.

"Do you want water or anything?" Lucas asked.

Maya just shook her head, not even looking at the boy who offered. "No I'm fine."

Lucas didn't know how to make her feel better. Especially not when he knew exactly how she was feeling. Terror was making a home in his bones and his mind kept flashing him images of him trying to be a father at 18. Instead of speaking, he crawling onto the bed next to her. She was on her side facing him, so he did the same, turning to face her. His arm reached out to tuck hair behind her ear over and over, playing with the ends of her golden waves. The delicate smile that now sat on her lips told him that he was succeeding in soothing her, at least for right now.

"Huckleberry did you mean what you said earlier? About staying with me and the baby?" she asked. Lucas wanted to laugh, but that seemed a bit insensitive right now. How could she think he didn't mean that?

"I meant every word Shortstack. If that doctor calls us and tell us you are pregnant, then I don't have anywhere to be except with you two. It'll be you, me, and that baby against the world," he smiled.

"Ok," was all Maya could say. Lucas's arms wrapped around her and pulled her into his chest, where she gladly resided. She let herself be engulfed in the warmth of his arms as they wrapped around her tight and kept her close.

Somewhere along the line, the two fell asleep. The crook of Lucas's neck held the shape of Maya's head. Their breathing was nearly perfectly matched. That quiet sound of breathing was the only sound in the room until Maya's phone went off, chiming to alert her of an incoming call. Maya, startled by the sudden sound, forced her eyes open. Lucas was dazed, glancing over and Maya and collecting his thoughts. Truthfully, Maya was surprised she even fell asleep. If someone would have suggested sleep to her a while ago, she would have laughed and said she was much too scared to sleep. But something about Lucas made it possible for her mind to shut off for a while, even with all the unanswered questions on her brain.

Maya reached for her phone on the nightstand and answered, drowsily. "Hello?" she mumbled. Out of nowhere, her head perked up and her eyes grew wide. She looked up at Lucas. "It's the doctor's office," she whispered before putting her attention back fully to the woman on the other end of the phone. Lucas, who was slouching over before, almost still lying down, sat up straight as a board. His eyes hovered on the blonde girl in front of him, looking at her face for any signs of a pregnant or not pregnant answer. "Yes. Mhmm. Ok. Ok thank you. Bye," she spoke, spaced out with no emotion. As much as Lucas wanted to be patient, he couldn't take not knowing anymore.

Maya's face was blank. It held no hints as to what the lady on the other end of the phone said to her. Lucas figured if she was pregnant, she would be having some sort of panic attack by now. But she wasn't, she was just sitting there, staring straight ahead. Lucas had thought about movies he had seen. Maybe Maya was pregnant and the look he was seeing on her face was just a contentness, like Maya had made peace with it all. Maybe not knowing was what made it so unbearable for her. At this moment, Lucas could feel the unbearable agony of not knowing.

"Maya!" he barked. "You're killing me here. What did she say?" he asked.

A little grin slowly replaced the blank stare on the small blonde's face. "I'm not pregnant," he whispered. "I'm not pregnant!" She leaned over from her spot and wrapped her arms around Lucas's neck. He returned the hug, cleaning out his mind of any thoughts of being a teenage father. "I want to be with you!"

"What?" Lucas questioned the sudden outburst.

"I'm sorry. I just- my brain is on overload right now! But what you said earlier about being together, I couldn't focus on anything besides being pregnant then. And now I don't have to think about you, me, and a baby, I can just think about you and me," Maya explained. Her adrenaline level was way too high right now and she couldn't seem to stop talking. It's not like Lucas wanted to stop though, these were the words he wanted to hear. "I want to try us."

"I don't think it's trying if you know it's going to work," Lucas joked.

Maya playfully pushed him back but Lucas was quick. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her in, crashing his lips to hers. Both tangled their hands in the other's golden hair, twisting and tugging. This kiss was so much better than the last kiss they shared. That kiss was drunk and stinging with energy. This one, this one had a chemistry that made their lungs feel out of air. They would remember this kiss. Every twist of their tongues in the other's mouth would stick in their heads for a while.

Maya pulled back to breathe, grazing her thumb over the soft texture of Lucas's bottom lip. "Thank you," she said.

"For what?"

"There's no way in hell that I would've gotten through today without you," she revealed honestly. She moved her left hand to the back of his neck, her nails softly gliding up and down the delicate skin, making Lucas tingle. "And I know you were as freaked out as I was. So thank you, Hopalong, for keeping me sane today."

Lucas laughed at the nickname, and pressed a kiss on her nose. "So… we're together," he asked, wagging his eyebrows up and down.

Maya couldn't help but laugh at the dork. "Yes." She laughed as she was flipped on her back and Lucas had his mouth on hers again. Smiling into the kiss, Maya pushed him off. "Huckleberry that's how we got into this baby mess in the first place!" she laughed.

Lucas just shrugged, helping Maya push her hair out of her face. "Sorry. Can't help myself," he laughed back.

 **A/N: I'm sorry I write so many Lucaya stories that revolve around them either getting married or getting pregnant/having a baby. That just seems to be a huge inspo to me and I always get new ideas about that. But please tell me if you guys are getting tired of those themes and I'll try not to write so many Lucaya x wedding or Lucaya x baby stories.**

 **As happy as I am that I have all this one-shot inspo, I wish I could work on my multi chapters! But everytime I go to work on a multi chapter story, I got nothing. Hopefully soon that will end because I have an idea I would love to start working on! I'll keep you guys updated.**

 **Review review review as always!**


	19. One and Only

**A/N: New one shot! Finally right?! Sorry about the long wait but I've been putting all my writing energy into my new multi-chapter. But here is this so enjoy!**

 **I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.**

 _Timeline: High school seniors._

 _Summary: Maya and Lucas's on-again off-again relationship is tricky at the moment, but how will Lucas react when Maya a date with another boy?_

One and Only

The group sat around their normal lunch table. The conversation flowed easily, but things weren't as they usually were. Maya and Lucas, the two that were usually glued to each other all the time, weren't even sitting on the same side of the table. They had been dating a long time, since their sophomore year. But lately, the past couple months actually, they were continuously fighting, resulting in break-ups that would last for a few days or at most a couple weeks before the two finally broke down and got back together.

All their fights were stupid, over weird little things and crap their friends were surprised they even got mad about. Right now was one of those times. Neither blonde could even remember what they had fought about this time, but they wouldn't admit that. They just knew they were mad and their pride kept them from apologizing yet. The odd energy hovered over the table, but it wasn't so bad. Both of them participated in the lunch time conversation, as long as they didn't have to talk directly to each other.

"Peaches do you want to have a movie night tonight?" Riley asked Maya towards the end of lunch as she slurped down the rest of her soda.

Maya's eyes stayed on her bag of chips that was now just a bag of crumbs. "I can't. I have a date tonight," the blonde answered nonchalantly.

Suddenly, everyone at the table lifted their eyes up to Maya. It was stunning to hear, especially with Lucas sitting right there. Lucas was actually the only one who didn't lift his eyes to look at his ex-girlfriend. Zay was a little nervous that Lucas would get up from his seat and flip the table over. He glanced over to his best friend as he sat next to him. He wasn't even looking up at Maya. His head remained down, looking at no particular spot on the table. He looked fine. But from his angle, Zay could see the little cloud of anger filling his eyes.

Carefully, Riley turned her body to Maya. "You have a date? Like a real date?" she asked. Maya's head nodded like the news was nothing. But her eyes remained down, not wanting to look up at the looks of her confused and possibly disappointed friends. And she definitely didn't want to accidently want to catch a glimpse of Lucas's face. "With who?" Riley's curiosity continued.

"Chris Thomas," the blonde answered back. Under the table, Lucas's fists balled up tight. He tried his best to breathe and stay calm, but it was hard when Maya was across the table talking about her date with someone that wasn't him. The boys stayed silent, not knowing exactly what to say. But the silence was killing everyone. It was becoming unbearable so Riley opened her mouth to speak. But first, Maya lifted her head and unintentionally caught a glance of Lucas. "I have to get to class a little early. I'll see you guys later," her words came out fast. The group uttered quiet byes to their friend and watched as she walked off out of the cafeteria.

All eyes turned to Lucas as soon as Maya was out of sight. "Are you ok Lucas?" Riley practically whispered.

Lucas's head perked up at the sound of his name. His eyes sat on the brunette right across from him and he managed a smile. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Farkle asked.

"Why wouldn't I be fine you guys?" Lucas asked, popping one of his last remaining fries into his mouth. No one believed the calm, cool attitude he put on right now, especially not Zay.

When no one else at the table seemed to know how to reply to that, Zay took the opportunity to speak up. "Because… Maya is-" he started, but was cut off by Lucas.

"Maya is allowed to go out with whoever she wants," the tense blonde interrupted with some grit in his usually soft, smooth voice.

"Look, man, you don't have to-"

Once again, the boy was cut off from finishing his sentence as Lucas turned his body diagonally to engage everyone at the table. "Me and Maya are not together right now you guys. She can go out with whoever she wants," Lucas boomed.

"But Lucas, you two always get back together," Riley insisted.

"Well maybe this time we aren't going to get back together, Riley." The words burned Lucas's tongue, but it seemed to be true. Maya was going on a date with someone else. They had never before dated other people during one of their recent break-ups. In his head, he was busy trying to process the fact that maybe his relationship with Maya was officially over; maybe this break-up was the one that officially broke them. "We broke up. And Maya is a big girl. So if she wants to go out with _Chris Thomas_ or whoever else then that is her decision and it's none of my business."

"But-" Just as Zay was about to ask Lucas if that was how he really felt, even though he knew damn well that it was all a lie to keep himself from losing it, the bell rang to end lunch. Lucas was quick to get up from his seat and collect his trash.

"It's none of my business who Maya goes out with and I don't care. I'm going to class," Lucas demanded before the cafeteria as quickly as Maya did before.

The friends back at the table looked around at each other. Farkle's eyes settled on Zay. Farkle knew one thing and it was observation. "He's not okay is he?" he asked the boy who would know best.

"Not even a little bit," Zay answered, collecting his own trash from the table.

Later when Lucas asked Zay if he wanted to go with him to the gym that night, Zay assumed Lucas needed to channel his anger and disappointment about Maya's date into a good, long workout. So as much as he just felt like relaxing at home and working on the essay he had due in a couple days that he hadn't even started, he told his best friend he would meet him at the gym at 7. This was the hardest Zay had ever seen the blonde go during a workout. He was doing more reps, lifting heavier weights. As much as Zay wanted to ask about Maya, he was scared to even say the name.

Even when the boys were in the shower and Zay looked over to see Lucas letting the water hit him, his hands running through his wet hair and his eyes staring blankly ahead at the wall. All Zay offered up was a _"you all good man?"_ Lucas replied with a silent nod and the two boys carried on with their showers in silence. It continued as they dressed in the locker room and even on the subway. Zay's exit was a couple stops before Lucas's so he stood up just before the subway doors opened.

"Look, man, if you need to talk you know I'll listen," Zay offered to the blonde still sitting. Lucas looked up, but didn't answer. A weak smile sat on his face and a nod served as the only 'sort of answer.' Zay took it though. When the doors slid open, he pulled his work-out bag over his shoulder and exited the subway car out of sight.

Lucas dragged a hand over his face, frustrated with this feeling inside of him. He couldn't help but wonder how Maya's date was going. What if it was going well? He didn't know if it would be worse if the date went good or bad. There was no way he wanted Maya to be unhappy, but just thinking about that one date turning into many other dates made his stomach turn upside down. That was his girl, his Shortstack. They had been having her problems lately, but he never thought it was something they couldn't work out. He had no idea where these fights had been coming from.

He was knee deep in thoughts that were only increasing his frustration when he exited the elevator on his floor in his apartment building. He turned the corner, his keys fumbling around in his hand. Looking up, expecting to only see his apartment door in his eye line down the hall, he saw more than that. He spotted a wave of blonde hair and the girl it belonged to, Maya, sitting on the ground right in front of his door, her back leaning against it. She didn't notice the boy walking closer to the door, his eyes never leaving her form.

"Maya? What are you doing here?" Lucas asked once he got closer to her. Maya's head jerked up to notice Lucas and started to stand up.

"I um- I wanted to talk to you," she revealed, wiping her black jeans clear of any dust they might have gathered while she was sitting on the ground.

"Shouldn't you be on your date?' Lucas asked, with just a little bit of sarcasm in his voice. Even though the sarcastic tone was hard to catch, Maya caught it. But she ignored it, as she knew she would act the same way if it was Lucas who had the date tonight.

Maya shook her head slightly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I didn't go on the stupid date."

Lucas raised an eyebrow to the reveal. "Why?" he asked, not knowing if he was ready for the answer. Suddenly, he caught sight of the distraught look the blue eyes of the girl in front of him held. Thoughts, terrible thoughts, swirled in his head that something could have happened with Chris before the date. "Maya did he do something to you? Because I swear to God if he did, I'll-"

"No! No, no Lucas. He didn't do anything. I cancelled the date," Maya said. Lucas was relieved, but no less confused and curious.

"Why would you do that?"

A deep breathe escaped Maya and a small, quick sarcastic chuckle followed it. "Because I was getting ready for the date and everything was fine! But then I was getting dressed and I suddenly realized I was about to put on this stupid gold necklace you bought me because I wear it every day and it's just natural for me to put it on. And I thought about how dumb it was for me to be going out with anyone else because I don't want to be with anyone else but you, Huckleberry!" Maya's voice was fast paced, almost rambling as she explained her situation to Lucas. He stood staring at her. Of course, he felt the same way and he wouldn't say it but he was so relieved that Maya had cancelled her date. "So I called Chris and cancelled the date. I came over here but no one was home so I've been sitting out here for like an hour because I had to tell you that." Those blue eyes of hers softened as she came to the end of her story. But Lucas was still silent. In her head, Maya had been trying, for the past hour, to trace back to the fight that caused their current break-up. She wasn't quite sure what caused it but she was pretty sure she had done something. She could never quite get the idea out of her head that she was the cause of most of their recent arguments. "And now that I've told you what I needed to tell you, I don't blame you if you don't feel the same way. So I'm going to go," Maya mumbled.

She tried to make her way past Lucas but he reached out to pull her arm back. "Maya! Of course I want to be with you," he said, as if it was a crazy thing to believe that he could feel any other way. "Come inside," he begged, trying to pull Maya towards the apartment door.

But Maya pulled back, standing firm in her place. "Lucas I want to! But not if we're just going to keep doing this 'break-up make-up' thing we've been doing!"

"I know," Lucas sighed. His mind had been going over and over these fights for days, especially in the hours since he found out of about Maya's date. He had to figure out what was going wrong. And now standing here in front of the gorgeous blonde herself, he had a certain feeling growing inside of him and he was sure it was that feeling that held the answer. "But we're fighting because we don't talk to each other anymore."

"We talk all the time," Maya corrected, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Well maybe not about the right things," Lucas grumbled. "We don't tell each other when things are bothering us. It's like we let it build up and fester until we explode at each other. We have to stop doing that!"

Maya stared at him, knowing he was right. She knew exactly why she kept quiet about her feelings at time, and Lucas knew why he did it too. He didn't really want to admit it out loud, but then again, this was Maya he was talking to. The comforting blue eyes in front of him effortlessly coaxed him into saying the words.

"I'm… I'm not very good at admitting I have a problem. I never want to disappoint anyone who sees me as this perfect guy that they can always count on," he admitted, his eyes continuously trying to deviate from Maya's.

"You know that you don't have to be that with me," Maya sighed.

"I know! And I love you for that!" he smiled, reaching out to push some blonde hair behind Maya's ear. "But it's hard to get out of that habit of always wanting to please everybody around me."

Maya couldn't disagree with the last second. She knew a thing or two about not wanting to disappoint people and it was difficult to change after so many years of doing it. "I get that. Maybe I hold things in too much too. I just don't want to bug anybody with my feelings," she said with a small chuckle. "There are more important things than that I might be a little upset one day."

"Not to me!" Lucas retorted. "I want to be there for you, no matter what you're feeling. That's kind of my job. You should know that."

A laugh escaped Maya. It always made her chuckle when Lucas got cheesy or cliché. It was a nice, warm feeling to have him feel that way about her, like he _wanted_ to be there for her. "I do know that," she smiled. Maya stepped a little closer to the other blonde, closing some space in between them. "But it's hard to get out of the habit," she teased.

"Well, I think we need to promise to always tell the other person what we're feeling. Because we are supposed to be that safe space for each other. And I know you have Riley and I have Zay, but you and me, we're a different kind of safe space," Lucas chimed, fully closing the space between them. Two tiny arms from the girl in front of him wrapped around his torso and clutched onto the back of his shirt.

"No more break-up make-up?"

"God no!" Lucas laughed. "I'm over it. I miss you too much when we break-up anyway."

The tinier blonde ruffled her hands through his short hair, twisting her fingers in between the tufts. "So cheesy." The grin that lit up her face was proof that she didn't care about her boyfriend's cheesiness, in fact she actually liked it a bit. Hands moved from Lucas's hair to cup his smooth cheeks. She was about to pull him in but Lucas took the liberty to move in on his own. Lips softly touched, moving together into a short kiss. "I love you Hopalong."

"I love you Shortstack," he replied happily. The hands cupping his cheeks pulled him back in for a longer, sturdier kiss. He didn't want to pull away, despite the fact that they were basically making out in the middle of his apartment building hallway. Honestly, his neighbors were probably using to it by now, though. But he pulled away, he was too curious about something. "What did Chris say when you cancelled the date night?"

"Actually, he was really cool about it," Maya laughed. "He said he saw it coming, but he was hoping I wouldn't realize I wanted you until after he got to go on a date with me."

Lucas couldn't help but laugh. That was his girl, everyone knew it. He didn't blame Chris for seeing an opportunity to go on a date with her. If Lucas wasn't the one lucky enough to always get to kiss her and hold her then he would want to be, he would have done what Chris did. But Maya was his.

And he couldn't believe how lucky he was.

 **A/N: How did you like this one? Just a quick one but I actually really like this one!**

 **Thank you guys soooooo much for reading! I would really like some suggestions for one-shots! I'm a little low on ideas lol Review how you liked this one and let me know what one-shot you want to read next! Thanks loves:)**


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